


Infallible (A Stray Kids x Reader Angel AU)

by taffysamg



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Kpop fanfic, Kpop fanfiction - Freeform, Other, Stray Kids Fanfic, Stray Kids Fanfiction, Supernatural - Freeform, Supernatural AU - Freeform, angel - Freeform, angel au, kpop, kpop x reader, skz - Freeform, skz fanfic, skz fanfiction - Freeform, skz x reader - Freeform, stray kids - Freeform, stray kids x reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 22,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taffysamg/pseuds/taffysamg
Summary: (Warnings: Mild language, violence, death, intense themes) Y/N has not lived a particularly easy life. As she's driven to the edge, (both figuratively and literally, as she's nearing suicide), she is met by her guardian angel. He's a bit different than she'd expect, and he ends up dragging her into a disaster that she honestly wanted no part in. Still, for better or worse, it's her problem now. While an angel may have saved her first, she might find herself needing to become the savior. [Please note, this story has no intentional religious connotations and does not comply with Catholic or any other faiths involving angels - it is simply for fun.]
Relationships: Bang Chan/Reader, Han Jisung | Han/Reader, Hwang Hyunjin/Reader, Kim Seungmin/Reader, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)/Reader, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Reader, Seo Changbin/Reader, Yang Jeongin | I.N/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. End of the End

Chapter warnings: Mild language, intense themes, mention of suicide

[Please note: Do not kill yourself. If you need someone to speak to, you can call 800-273-8255. Help is available.] 

"Well..." She breathed in as she looked down over the city. "I guess it's come to this." The lights were gorgeous, and she watched entranced for a moment as they flickered in the urban environment around her. The air was clearer where she was standing, surprisingly, likely because she wasn't in the thick of civilization anymore. It felt nice to stand above it all. Although it was a bit chilly, she didn't mind. It's not like it was going to bother her for long. 

As she surveyed the area, she found herself wondering why things couldn't be this beautiful down there. She had seen the filth of the city- of any city, or mankind as a whole, for that matter. Up close, it was disgusting, offering her no hope. There was dirt everywhere, the rich constantly spitting on the poor, insufferable on a good day and absolutely devastating on a worse one. Up here, though, everything was fine. 

Maybe it was the people. Without the people, there would be no dirt, no problems. Although, without people, the lights she was so infatuated with would be gone as well. It was strange how the only natural light came from stars. It made her wish she was born on a star. It would be nicer, at least. And to be useful, to billions, trillions of life forms? Exquisite. She would have died and been reborn a star as many times as it would take if it meant she'd have meaning to one single person. Unfortunately, not everything has meaning. And it just so happened that Y/N was just... one of those people. 

Thinking about the city, about the people, about how much pain and suffering and disgust they caused, she decided that it would be better for her to get rid of them. She wished the Earth would do so on its own, but the Earth had never done anything in accordance with her wishes before. Sometimes, she thought, people just have to take things into their own hands. 

So now she was standing, leaning on the rail of the bridge, although not from the side it was intended. Her feet were mere inches from slipping, the concrete against the rubber soles of her shoes the only things between her and her fall. She admitted that she wasn't brave enough to force this upon herself. If she had wings, she'd never be able to complete the fall. Lucky for her, though, she had no such thing, and all it would take was a step. 

She wasn't afraid of anything in particular. Death was better than whatever she was enduring now, and even if it hurt, it would go away shortly. She wasn't sure whether she'd land in the water or on the bank, but either would suffice. She just wanted to take a last second to look at the lights. Pretty, and even if they were the product of humanity, they were more peaceful. Breathing in again, she shrugged to herself. 

"I guess I don't need a eulogy, no one's really here." She said with a bit of a laugh. "Um, let's see... Y/N, was a girl. She wasn't that bad, I guess. There were worse people." Already feeling dumb for trying to write herself a funeral, she gripped the railing, looking down. "Guess that's it. Might as well." 

Unclenching her fingers from the guard behind her, and shifting her weight, she removed her foot from the edge and stepped forward into the air. It felt like when one walks down the stairs and assumes there's one less step than there actually is, or when you're lying in bed and jerk awake for no particular reason. Once her stomach got over the initial drop, though, it was sort of nice. 

She wasn't looking down. She didn't want to- as much as she hated it, she knew she'd probably get scared. She just wanted to feel the breeze for these last few seconds. She felt it over her face and between her fingertips, kissing the tip of her nose as she rocketed towards the Earth. Then, there was pain. 

It wasn't the pain of hitting the ground. It was a piercing, tight cinching at the waist, almost like a skirt that was too tight. Eyes shooting open, she saw her own arms and legs dangling underneath her, bathed in a soft, yellow light. She felt the unevenness of whatever was hindering her on her body, grazing her middle with small movements. Trying to turn over to see what it was, she heard a voice call out. 

"Stop moving around, I'm gonna drop you-" It was this voice that caused her to realize that it was a person keeping her in midair. Had someone leaned over the bridge and caught her? That couldn't have been... she felt like she had been falling for a while. So how had he grabbed ahold of her? She felt a strong wind rush past her skin, much more forceful than before, as she saw herself lifted even further from the ground. 

They were rising through the air, leaving the city far below them. She could just barely make out the tips of sleek, black shoes from her folded angle. Soon, they were floating above the clouds, rushing through the air like a jet. She felt her vision fading in and out as the oxygen thinned, as well as the blood rushing to her hands and feet- the lowest points of her body. Sensing her discomfort, the voice said, 

"Sorry, we're almost there." Sure enough, they sank back through the clouds, landing on the roof of a semi-familiar building. It was flat, and covered in AC units. This must have been nearby to her place, if she remembered it so well. Breathing out heavily, he stood behind her crumpled frame, setting her down on the concrete of the roof. 

"That was more difficult than I thought." He said. Confused and starting to become a bit frightened, she quickly turned, just barely seeing something yellow flash behind his back and disappear. The glow was gone now, as well. He wasn't abnormally tall, dressed in mostly black apart from his faded, red T-shirt. His hair fell slightly into his eyes, but not enough that she couldn't make out their dark, crystalline color. He had minimalistic silver jewelry and the same shiny shoes that she had seen in the air. 

"Who? What- I-" She didn't even know what to say. 

"Oh! Sorry. My name is Seungmin." He held out a hand for her to shake. Still on the ground, she had no means of taking it. 

"...How?" She had hundreds of questions, but all of them were trying to leave her mouth at the same time. Leaning down to help her to her feet by grabbing her elbow, he shook her hand of his own volition. His skin was a weird combination of cold and hot... It was almost as if his skin was cold, but the inside was burning up... like the opposite of a shittily microwaved hot-pocket. 

"Nice to meet you! I'm your guardian angel."


	2. Favor

Chapter warnings: Mild language, intense themes, mention of suicide

[Please note: Do not kill yourself. If you need someone to speak to, you can call 800-273-8255. Help is available.]

"Let me get this straight." 

"Yes?" They were sitting on the rooftop, both criss-crossed, Seungmin gazing over her curiously. He was only occasionally making eye contact with her, mostly spending his time intrigued with her body. It didn't seem creepy, though, moreso like a child at the zoo. 

"You're an angel. Like, flappy wings, golden halo, choirs and all that?" Laughing, he pulled up his knee, leaning on it. 

"I mean, kind of. I do have wings. That's how I flew to grab you." 

"But... where did they go?" 

"I can hide them." He explained. "I can't just go walking around with big glowing wings all the time. That might draw a bit of attention." 

"You can't just... be invisible?" 

"I mean, I'm an angel, so I don't actually have a body. I'm a spiritual being. When I take on a human-ish body, though, I'm just as visible as you." 

"So do you just follow me around?" She asked, stomach turning. Was he watching her while she was sleeping, or changing, or showering? A shiver ran up her spine just thinking about it. 

"Not exactly. I just keep an eye on you." 

"Does everyone have one?" He paused, looking to the left briefly, almost as if he didn't know the answer. 

"Yes." Eyebrows tilting up, she thought about her own situation. 

"If everyone has a guardian angel, and you just stopped me from killing myself... why can other people get away with it?" 

"You... get away with it?" 

"Yeah, why do they get to kill themselves? Are their angels just... chill?" Scoffing, his attitude changed from the soft kindness to a bit of attitude. 

"First of all, you're welcome. You do not get to kill yourself, it's not a privilege. You know, most people are afraid of dying." She shrugged, dismissing it. She still hadn't received an answer to her question, but who really cared? She was talking to an angel, apparently. Maybe she had died, or was dying. That would explain this whole piece of insanity. 

"Can I see them?" She asked, interrupting his little rant. 

"Can... see what?" 

"The wings." His nose scrunched up slightly. 

"Why?" 

"You're gonna tell me you're an angel and then just not show me the wings?" 

"I mean..." He looked to her expectant face, sighing. "I guess." Standing back up, towering over her sitting body, they appeared back from behind him. Folding out from his shoulder blades, they cast a bright, yellow light over the area. He looked down to the street, checking to make sure no one was looking up to the rooftops. Each of the feathers of the wing folded under the one above it, a glistening accordion of light. They didn't at all seem like regular feathers, practically like a hologram. They radiated a certain warmth, as well, filling the area with their presence. 

"Wow." She breathed. As she was still staring, they quickly folded back again, disappearing once more into the man's frame. 

"That's enough of that." She had to reorient herself, still entranced by even the memory of their beauty. She was having a bit of trouble processing it, so she just breathed slowly, lungs emptying and relaxing her muscles. "So, seeing as how I saved your life, maybe you'd be willing to do me a favor?" Eyes narrowing, all warm fizzy feelings dissipated. 

"E...excuse me?" 

"You know, I'm asking you for something. In return, and all that." This sparked a bit of annoyance in her. 

"First of all, you didn't save my life. I was perfectly fine doing what I was doing. Second of all, aren't you a guardian angel? That's literally your job." 

"It's not like that, I-" As he was trying to explain, she was distracted by the figure descending behind him. Following her gaze, he looked behind him, watching as another winged figure flew down in a dive onto the roof, not unlike a bird. 

"Seungmin, we-" It started to say. When she was able to look over the figure, she realized it was another man. He was significantly shorter than her guardian angel, and the wings that he too was hiding were a silvery, ash color rather than the yellow she had seen before. 

"Not now, Jeongin, I'm in the middle of something."

"But the Archangel-" 

"I said not now-" Scrambling to her feet, she backed up. 

"Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I think I need to go home and go to bed. Honestly, I'm probably dreaming at this point. You guys... talk about whatever it is you need to talk about. I'm just gonna go reconsider my entire life." 

"Wait, come on lady, I-" 

"Lady?" She asked, "It's Y/N. You'd think as my guardian angel you'd know that." 

"I- I do know that, I-" 

"Look." She raised her hands. "If this is still happening tomorrow, feel free to come and find me."

"But- you're gonna- What if you-" She was beginning to realize he was really flustered, or in the most extreme of cases, maybe even angry. She noted to herself that angels did not only experience positive emotions. Admittedly, she'd like to stay and learn more about him, but there wasn't much to be done about the strange nature of his activities. Still, she couldn't handle it all in the moments. She had been good at running from her problems before, why stop now?" 

"I'm not going to do anything crazy, just..." She breathed. "Just give me some space. You and..." she waved her hand, trying to recall the name of the other man. "Jeongin do whatever you need to." Before he could stop her, she exited through the utility door, walking down the staircase and out onto the street. Thankfully, she had been right, recognizing the area. While it wouldn't be fantastic, she was close enough to her home to walk. Looking around, she sighed to herself, then began her journey back. 

When she had arrived, her knees slightly sore and head filled with questions and theories, she unlocked the door, slipping in and turning the lights on. She was ecstatic to finally be partially at peace. While it wasn't exactly the perfect rest she'd envisioned for that night, it was better than arguing with... angels. As she did so, though, she looked into the area, practically jumping as she saw yet another figure in front of her, leaning against the wall and looking off into the distance, as if deep in thought.


	3. Demons

Chapter warnings: Mild language

Before she had the chance to say anything, the man in her house caught sight of her. While he didn't approach her, her, he looked visibly relieved, holding a hand to his chest. 

"Oh, Y/N, thank God..." He was a similar height to the second angel she had seen on the roof, although his hair was significantly lighter. If she had to have guessed, she would have said it was dyed, but... The third set of wings she'd seen in less than an hour would indicate that that wasn't the case. She was starting to think she was dying in some hospital bed, stuck in a fever dream. 

"I was on my way, I thought something bad was going to happen, but then I couldn't sense you at all, I was so scared," he rambled, not even looking at her at this point. "You stupid idiot, always getting in to trouble- you're definitely the trickiest human I've ever met." Watching as he continued pacing, she began to notice objects behind him just barely visible... through him. It was like he was a ghost, translucent and luminous. When he finally looked over at her, she was just staring at him. Spinning around so his back was to her, he asked, 

"What, what are we looking at?" Realizing that there was nothing there, he spun back to her, much less nonchalantly than the first time. "Are... are you looking at me?" 

"Who the fuck are you?" She yelled, standing back against the counter. As she did this, he practically yelled in surprise. 

"How can you see me?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, wings shaking slightly, almost like a startled cat's tail. 

"Who are you?!" She demanded again. 

"I-I'm Felix! I'm your guardian angel!"

"That's bullshit!" She said, eyes growing wider in nervousness. Why was this thing now lying to her? Was he a demon? Or did he have some agenda? Even her own guardian angel had asked for a favor, was this man no different? All she had wanted was to come back home and get some rest, maybe force herself to wake up from this mad hallucination. Now, it was only getting weirder.

"No! I- I swear! I've been with you for months!" He said frantically, putting his hands up. "I remember the time you tripped and fell into that fountain while you were out with your friend. Or the time you stayed on the phone with that telemarketer for twenty minutes just to annoy him! O-or the time you looked in the mirror and felt confident for once so you did this little dance, and then you started laughing, and-" 

"Okay! Okay! Stop!" She said, putting her hands up. "I get it- but how can I have two guardian angels?" Felix's frantic expression shifted into one of confusion. 

"Two? You don't have two guardian angels. We barely have enough as it is." Tilting her head, she said, 

"But I met him earlier. He said that he was my guardian angel, and he needed a favor." 

"Favor...?" 

"Yeah. He was taller than you, dark hair, yellow wings-" 

"Yellow?" 

"Uh, yeah." 

"Like, the kind of white-yellow you see in paintings, or a real, creme-yellow?" 

"I don't know man," she said in exasperation, "I didn't really pay attention to the shade of yellow." 

"Did they look anything like mine?" Taking a moment to glance over his wings, she shook her head. 

"No, less white." 

"Shit... That's not an angel, Y/N, that's a demon." 

"A- demons?!" She said. She had been going to ask if angels were allowed to curse, but that was the least of her worries now. Demons existed? And she met one?! 

"What was its name?" 

"I, uh-" 

"Y/N!" 

"I- he said it was Seungmin!" Felix's eyes widened. 

"You're kidding." 

"Why would I be kidding?" As she said this, holding a hand to her head, he stepped forward. It was a strange phenomenon as he did so, almost as if he was stepping out of the veil and into the real world. As each part of him crossed some invisible threshold, he changed from translucent to opaque, ethereal to corporeal. Before her eyes, the physical embodiment of the flickering angel was in front of her, now without his wings. 

"Y/N. That is one of the most dangerous demons to walk the universe. I have no idea what he wants with you, but heaven will have to deal with this as quickly as possible." Now, she was really starting to get scared. Felix's grave tone was unsettling her, washing over her. She didn't know whether angels could share emotions or had special powers, but whatever he was doing to her didn't feel all that great. 

"W-what about the other one? Is he a demon too?" 

"What color were his wings?" 

"G-grey, I think." He nodded somberly. 

"If they don't have full-on spined wings, their feathered ones are grey. Seungmin was able to disguise his to trick you, but he's not able to replicate the white color perfectly. That's why they looked yellow. As for the other one, I'm not sure why they allowed you to see his own color. It ruins the facade." 

"I don't think they meant to," she corrected. "He just showed up out of nowhere. Seungmin was all like, 'Jeongin, not now, I-'" Before she even finished reenacting the scene, Felix gasped slightly again. 

"Jeongin too?" 

"Yeah, I-" 

"This may be worse than I thought. You're kind of a pain in the ass right now." 

"Excuse me?" Making eye contact with her, he amended, 

"Look, I'm not always the best at being a guardian angel. I'm more of a heavenly-war kind of angel. We're short, though, and yours went MIA. We're still trying to find him. Until then, I'm your guardian, and that means it's my job to keep you safe." 

"I... how long have I not had a guardian angel?" Looking to the ground, he said, 

"Before me, there was probably about a year where we didn't have anything for you." Eyes widening, she tracked the time period. It was around the time when she started getting sadder, more depressed, thinking about worse and worse things. Noticing her realization, he nodded, catching it before she could ask. 

"Yeah, that's... that's why things weren't going so well. I hadn't had the time to completely set you right yet. And like I said, I'm not very good at it." Looking away from her, his talking almost sounded more to himself than to her. "Hyunjin was perfect for you. He knew what upset you and how to fix it, even if you didn't know he was there." Laughing with a bit of sadness in his voice, he added, "I'm sure he'd be pissed if he found out that I was the first angel you were able to see." 

"Oh, wait-" she realized, questions popping up again. "How is it that I couldn't see you before, but I can now?" 

"Did the demon touch you?" She nodded. It felt weird that they were just calling Seungmin 'the demon', as well as Felix's tendency to refer to him as an 'it'. It was hard for her to process, as she still connected with him on a human level rather than on a basis of fear. She was sure that would change if she ever saw him again. 

"That's why." Felix explained. "He purposely made it so that you could see him, probably so he could ask for his favor. My guess is he didn't know how to limit that ability to only demons. He just made it so that you could see the supernatural. To a degree, at least." 

"Huh." There was a lot to be said, she just... didn't know how to say it. 

"I think the best course of action for your safety is to take you to see the archangel." He continued. 

"The... archangel?" 

"Well, not the only archangel," he explained, "But the one in charge of me, at least. They're much more powerful angels, and he may know what to do. We've been trying to track down these particular demons for more than a long time, and he may jump at the chance. I couldn't say, though, we'll have to see." 

"So... where do we have to go to meet him?" 

"Heaven. Duh."


	4. Thrown from Grace

Chapter warnings: Mild language

"We're going to heaven?" She asked excitedly, morbidly curious as to what was happening. The thought was still just barely on the edge of her mind that she had managed her jump and was now in some strange, pre-death dream, but it couldn't hurt to play along. Also, if there was a heaven, she could try and figure out how to get in after she died, get a head start in the information department. 

"No," Felix said, crushing her aspirations in an instant. "I'm going to heaven. You're going to wait here." 

"Why?" She whined. "What happened to protecting me?" 

"You'll be fine, it'll only be a minute. I just need to get Bang Chan." 

"Bang Chan?" She asked. 

"The archangel." 

"No, I know, it just didn't seem like an... archangel-y name." 

"I mean, is Felix an angel-y name? Or honestly, are Seungmin and Jeongin?" 

"I thought you said they weren't angels." 

"They're not." He corrected, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Anyway, what did you want our names to be, Nephalussestamus or something?" 

"I... I mean, I guess not." 

"Exactly. Now sit tight." 

"But I-" 

"Sit." He demanded, holding a hand out in front of him. As if out of nowhere, a blue, flickering line appeared in midair. Slipping his hand into it, he slid through the fabric of the universe in front of her, leading the line to neatly zip behind him. I guess they can just... open heavenly gates from anywhere. She thought, sitting down on her bed in annoyance. 

"This is so boring." She said out loud, flopping backwards in exasperation. "Right when I find out angels exist, they all ditch me to go to heaven." 

"So he left, then?" she heard a voice say to her left. Shooting back into a sitting position, breath hitching, her eyes darted around the room, landing on a sickly familiar figure. 

"S-Seungmin! What- I- Get away from me!" 

"Hmm?" He hummed nonchalantly. "Why would you want me to leave? After all, I'm-" 

"Cut the shit, Felix told me what was going on. I know you're not my guardian angel." His eyes changed, the clarity somehow dimming. 

"Ah. I see. And what, pray tell, did he say that I am?" 

"A- a-" She tried to say, swallowing hard. 

"Come on, you've got it." Breathing in, sobered by his patronizing comment, she said, 

"He told me you're a demon." At this word, his eyes narrowed, lip rising just slightly and nose scrunching in disgust. 

"Ugh. I hate that word. I'm not a demon. The demons were created by God indirectly, they're rotten human bodies that have lost all of the human aspects soul. They're shells. They care for nothing and live to eat. It's repulsive that he'd even associate me with that." 

"If you're not a demon, then what are you?" She demanded, backing up against the wall inch by inch, trying to think out potential escape plans should something happen. Not that she'd have a chance of outrunning something like this. 

"I'm a fallen angel." He said curtly. 

"So you left heaven?" She asked. "Like in the Bible stories? Fighting God, all that?" 

"He would want you to think that, wouldn't he?" Seungmin sneered. "No, I didn't fight God. He threw me out." 

"Why?" 

"You tell me. I still don't know." Eyes thinning in skepticism, she posed, 

"So you just... woke up down here?" 

"Well... not exactly. But that's a story for another day. For now, there's much to discuss." 

"I don't think there's anything to discuss." She argued. "You lied to me. I have no idea what's going on, I'm just finding out all of this, honestly it's a miracle that I haven't gone into shock yet, and now you want a favor?" 

"Look, I'm trying to get back into heaven." He snarled, cutting her off with the banging of his hand on her wall. She jumped in surprise, body instinctively recoiling away from him. "I saved your life. And you are going to help me get back into heaven." 

"I'm just some girl!" She said, not understanding how he was so delusional. "Are you insane? I don't know how to get into heaven! I didn't even know if there was a heaven until like, five seconds ago. So thanks, but no thanks." 

"You don't get to say no thanks." Seungmin said. "You either agree to help me and cooperate, or we force your participation by unsavory methods." 

"No wonder you got kicked out." She muttered under her breath. 

"Excuse me?" 

"Nothing." She said, laying back down on her bed. "All I asked for was some time. And here you are, half an hour later. I'd assume you all are immortal, but that's not really that long, especially for humans." 

"We're not immortal." He commented. It wasn't really relevant, but he seemed to possess some sort of need to be right, even in passing. "You could kill an angel if you wanted to. Except for archangels. They only die if they want to." 

"If... they die if they want to?" She asked, confused. Shaking his head, he said,

"You wouldn't get it. Humans are always trying to find ways to live longer." Raising an eyebrow, he looked over, realizing his mistake. 

"O-oh. I mean... it's- it's not like that, it's different with angels. I'll tell you about it some other time." 

"Some other time? This isn't a summer fling, man, you can't just turn up in my house whenever you want. Felix is going to be back any second, too, and he's apparently looking for you. There is no 'some other time'." 

"Y/N, I don't have a choice, so neither do you. I need you to get back into heaven, I-" As he was pleading with her, she heard a high pitched noise, although it wasn't hurting her ears. It was more like a vibration, grabbing onto her lungs and pulling through into reality. Looking to Seungmin, she realized that he was definitely hearing it too. His eyes widened. 

"Shit, he's here." Wings unfolding from his back, he ran towards the door, looking back one more time to see her. After a short pause, he said, 

"Don't worry. I'm coming back for you."


	5. Archangel

Chapter warnings: None

"Y/N-" She heard Felix's voice echoing through the room before his figure even appeared, almost as some sort of otherworldly being. As she thought that, though, she remembered that he basically was an otherworldly being. She saw a glowing, human-shaped form, existing of nothing in light, that then faded into Felix's form. 

"I'm back. And I brought Chan." Looking to her, he tilted his head. "Are you okay? You seem on edge. And-" His nose scrunched up significantly. "You smell weird." 

"I...huh?" She hadn't been sure whether or not to tell him about her little encounter with Seungmin, but this was a new tangent. 

"You smell like... dead roses. It stinks." 

"That's rude. And where's this archangel person?" She asked. 

"Oh, he's in here. We can be invisible, you know." 

"But Seungmin said-" 

"Demon." He reemphasized. "Forget everything he told you. It was wrong. Don't ever trust anything he says." 

"O...okay." This still wasn't sitting well with her. She knew that, according to all mythology or folklore or teaching or really anything ever, demons were bad. They could make you feel all warm and fuzzy, then suck out your soul when you weren't paying attention. Still, there was a strangely melancholy purity to Seungmin that she couldn't quite place. Was he truly evil incarnate, as Felix was acting? 

"Anyway, Chan is here. He's just... watching." 

"Watching?"

"He does that sometimes. It's hard to explain. It's fine, he'll be around in a second. For now, uh... how are you?" She stared at him blankly for a moment. 

"You're kidding, right?" Sighing, Felix put a hand to the back of his head. 

"Look, I told you, I'm new at the whole guardian angel thing. Before I could at least fail in peace, but now you know I exist, so... it's got me a little nervous. We don't talk to people that often." She didn't know whether to laugh or feel bad. This whole thing was insane. 

"I'm fine, how are you?" He seemed a bit taken aback at this. 

"Me?" 

"Yes, you, silly. You asked first, so now I ask it back. How are you?" 

"That's not- it's my job to make sure you're okay." 

"And I'm just being polite." 

"You should spend more time on Earth, Felix," another voice said. While she couldn't place it as any higher or lower than the first boy's in particular, it was much louder and more stated. He was confident to say the least. Spinning, she saw another man in front of her. 

He was the same height as Felix, although he had a significantly stronger build and slightly darker skin. He had a small smile on his face, resting naturally, as if it always sat there. Reaching out a hand, she looked over his outfit. Much like the others, it was simple and modern, denim pants and a dark blue shirt to match. She didn't know why this was strange to her- maybe she had been expecting a robe or a halo. 

"Nice to meet you. I'm Chan." Extending a hand skeptically, she shook it. It felt very human, if not a little warm. Its was nothing like when she touched Seungmin's skin. Was this the difference between and angel and a demon? Or rather, fallen angel? She still didn't know who to believe... Maybe Bang Chan would be able to answer her questions.

"Uh, Y/N." 

"Yeah, you're bit different than I expected. Felix described you as more... annoying." 

"Hey!" The other angel elbowed him in the side, eyes widening in slight embarrassment. "That's not what I said!" She was too overwhelmed to argue with the man's statement. 

"It doesn't matter," he laughed, "We've found a bit of a temporary plan to protect you from the fallen angels while we formulate something more permanent." Her eyebrows raised slightly. 

"Already?" 

"Yep! There were a few other angels that were in Felix's past battalion. I have one that hadn't yet been assigned as a temporary guardian, so he'll be able to help. In addition, we have a seraphim friend of mine on the way." Felix looked over in surprise, as if that wasn't part of their discussion. 

"How will a seraphim be any help?" 

"It's not just some random sera," he explained. "It's Changbin." They were communicating through some form of eye contact that she couldn't even work out. So she had met four angels- that's what they were, because the archangel had even called the shady characters 'fallen angels'- There was Felix, her real guardian angel, Seungmin, the fake one, Jeongin, his associate, and Bang Chan, the archangel. Past that, there was some unnamed warrior angel, Changbin the seraphim, and then... Hyunjin. Her real real guardian angel. The one she'd had before Felix. 

As she watched them mutter and plot in front of her, the fatigue from earlier began to take over her body. Eyelids heavy, she realized just how late it was getting. She hadn't really planned on being awake this long, for several reasons. The whole reason she had left Seungmin the first time, before she knew about his nature, was because she was tired. Hell, she still didn't trust that this wasn't a dream. As she thought, she held a hand to her face, yawning. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're probably exhausted." Bang Chan said. "You should get some rest, we can take this elsewhere." 

"But we have planning to-" Felix began to argue. 

"Humans have to sleep, you need to get used to that." Chan warned him softly. "She'll be fine, we can check in every few hours." 

Hearing this, she tried to keep from shuddering. She was hoping it wouldn't be too hard to sleep knowing that they could be watching her. Felix had obviously been distraught earlier that he couldn't sense her, meaning that their souls had to have been attached in some way. Add that to her massively growing list of questions. Noting her expression, Chan said, 

"We can talk about everything tomorrow. Honestly, it's probably all the confusion that's making you tired. And we'll stay in our incarnated bodies, if it makes you more comfortable." Watching her surprise, he continued, "I'm a very empathetic angel. I can kind of tell what you're thinking." 

Well that wasn't creepy, either. Sighing, she just moved to her dresser to grab a set of pajamas, getting ready to shower. Looking back to where they were still staring at her, she moved her shoulders slightly. 

"Did... you need something else?" 

"No, no, we're going." Felix said, disappearing in an instant. Chan shook his head in amusement, walking towards the door. 

"Sorry. We'll try and act more human until you're used to it. He'll learn." Opening it, he waved with a grin. "We'll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams!"


	6. Your Shadow

Chapter warnings: Mild language

Y/N's eyelids fluttered open, revealing the pale color of the ceiling reflecting the late morning sunlight. She heard the birds outside, taking a deep breath and letting her vision adjust. She had slept like a baby, not interrupted once. She arched her back, stretching satisfyingly and shivering as she felt around for the blanket. Where was it? 

Unable to get a hold on it, she sat up, rubbing her eyes and glancing around to find where it was likely scrunched up at her feet. Looking down, she realized that the bed was made beneath her, explaining why she couldn't grab the blanket- she hadn't been underneath it to begin with. But... she could have sworn she crawled under the covers like she always did before she went to bed. And... this wasn't her comforter. 

Eyes shooting up, she quickly understood that she wasn't in her bedroom. The bed she was on had a black cover, and red pillowcases, with similarly colored sheets peeking out from beneath. The bed frame was a minimalistic black as well. She ceiling and walls were white, with completely black furniture covering the room. It was altogether minimalistic, made up of a few shelves, a sitting area with a table and a few chairs, a desk, various lamps and books, and the door to a closet. As her eyes slid around the room and back to the end of the bed, she screamed. 

"Shh." The man said, leaning forward from his strange squatting position on the bed frame to brush a fingertip lightly over her lips. "Don't be so loud. He'll get annoyed." He had appeared out of nowhere, completely escaping her peripheral vision until the last second. As her heart rate came down from its high, she realized that he was vaguely familiar looking. It was Jeongin. From the rooftop the night before. 

"W-where are we?" 

"Here." Wow, that was helpful. Jumping out of the bed, she straightened out her pajamas, face slightly heated, both out of nervousness and embarrassment. Jeongin watched her curiously as she reached for the door handle, looking both ways out of the hallway. 

"Where are you going?" He asked, following her as she turned and walked down the hallway. 

"I'm leaving." She said. 

"You can't." 

"Well, I am. I need to find Felix, he's going to be worried. He's already so worked up about this whole 'guardian angel' thing. And he and Bang Chan are working on some plans, plans to protect me from you crazies." 

"No, I mean you physically can't. There are no doors." 

"Th- there-" she started, looking around. "That can't be right, stop being ridiculous." Turning down a different hallway, she walked into another bedroom on accident. Spinning back around out of it, she tried a different hall. 

"I'm telling you, it's pointless." He said, still idly following her around, sneakers squeaking against the tile in between the padding of her bare feet. "There's a lot of stuff that we don't have here. Like bathrooms. Or a kitchen." 

"You don't... eat?? Or..." 

"We definitely don't need bathrooms. We can eat for fun, I guess, but we generally don't. Some stuff tastes good. I like noodles." He said, thinking. "We don't sleep, either. That's why the other angels left you alone last night. They didn't need to sleep." 

"Wait," she asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you don't need to sleep, why are there so many bedrooms? This entire house is like, entertainment, sitting rooms, hallways, and bedrooms." 

"The bedrooms aren't for sleeping." He said dully. "There are some particular human activities that angels do actually enjoy." It took her a second to get what he was saying. When she finally realized, she shook her head, face heating up. 

"Ugh, gross." 

"What is it that you people are always saying? It's natural?" 

"It doesn't matter! My point is that there should be doors." 

"There are doors," he amended. "Just not ones you can get through. They're for angels." 

"Well, let me out then." 

"No." She didn't know what answer she was expecting. They had brought her here for a reason, so they wouldn't be keen on just letting her walk out the door. 

"Fine." Marching down the hall, she began searching for a way to break out. Unfortunately, that was a little difficult with Jeongin just... following her around. After a few minutes, it began to get really old.

"That leads to the closet." He pointed out as she began to open another door.

"Could you go away?" She asked, annoyance evident in her tone. 

"No. Seungmin told me to keep an eye on you, and he's busy." 

"Fuck you." She muttered under her breath. 

"I can turn invisible, if you want." He offered, fading from her vision in the blink of an eye. His voice, shifting locations as he presumably walked around her, "Of course, I'll still be here, but if it makes you more comfortable-" 

"No!" She said, running her hands over her forehead. This was getting more and more exasperating. "Just- ugh!" She sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, sitting across from her. 

"What do you think!?" She yelled, leaning against her own knees. "I wanna go home. I want to forget angels are even real and go back to my old life." 

"I thought you didn't like your old life." He asked. "Weren't you trying to kill yourself?" Before she could answer, he said, "You know that was because of the angel mixup, right? Humans without guardian angels... It doesn't end well. I'm surprised you made it this long. It makes sense why Seungmin wants you." 

"Wants me?" She asked, diverting tracks from her own temper tantrum to his comment. "Wants me for what?" 

"It's hard to explain." He said. "We're trying to get back into heaven."

"He said that already." She mumbled in exasperation. "How am I supposed to help anyone get into heaven. I didn't even know heaven existed yesterday. Or what it entails. Or even who any of you people really are." 

"Look, he'll explain when he wants to." 

"So, you just answer to him?" She asked, "Like, take orders?" 

"Not exactly. I just do what he says because I want to. We have free will, you know. So do you." 

"Then... can I use my free will to leave?" The corners of his mouth just barely upturned for the first time since she'd awaken to his face. It wasn't easy to amuse him, that was for sure, But this was just barely a smile. Progress, at least. 

"No."


	7. Key to the Gates

Chapter warnings: Mild language

"Hello, again, Y/N." A voice said from behind her as she was trying to figure out if the windows had any openings. It was definitely familiar, and she knew the face she would see before he had even turned. "I told you I would come back for you." Seungmin was standing there, just as he had been before, now with a slight smile washing over his face. What did he have to be happy about?

"Let me go." She snarled angrily, annoyed by his smug expression. 

"You can leave if you can figure out how." He said with a shrug. "Or, you can make this easier for all of us and just do what I'm asking of you." 

"I don't even know what you want!" She argued. 

"I told you, you're going to help me and Jeongin get back into heaven." This again? She had no idea how to get this fallen angel back into heaven. She didn't even know the logistics of heaven. She hadn't been there, she didn't know anyone who had, and, oh yeah, the person asking her to do it was an ANGEL. Did she mention the angel part?

"I don't know how to do that!" She yelled back. "How can you expect me to-" 

"Oh, we don't need you to do anything," he corrected her. "We just need you." Before she jumped to argue back, she paused. That was a new development. She had been assuming this whole time that he needed her active help. But that still begged the question, how would her person even help? 

"Why? Am I half angel or something? Or like, a god?" Seungmin began laughing. 

"Are you serious?" He put a hand to his face in amusement. "No. You're just a human." 

"Then why do you need my help?" She asked, skeptical. "I don't know anything about heaven." 

"See," Seungmin started, holding out his hands like a middle school teacher. "Heaven has doors that only angels can use. Sort of like the doors in this house. You can't use them, an animal couldn't use them, but an angel can go through." 

"So how would I help? And if they're like these doors, how did I even get here to begin with?" 

"He's getting there." Jeongin cut in, trying to keep her from interrupting. "Just hold on." 

"Thank you." Seungmin continued, "Anyway, angels can bring other people through the doors. You're in here because I brought you through one of the doors. The problem," he sighed, obviously irritated, "is that heaven's doors are only open to pure angels. It's almost like an I.D., and I've been blacklisted." 

"That still doesn't explain how I'd be helpful." 

"Hold on." He shook his head. "So, if I could find an angel to let me in, I'd be good, no problem. Unfortunately-" 

"There's not an angel on the face of the Earth willing to let you into heaven?" 

"Exactly." 

"What did you do that got you in this much hot water?" She asked. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know the answer, but she was just morbidly curious. 

"It's a long story, and honestly I don't even know the whole thing. The point is, I can't get into heaven. But." He paused. "The way the doors I.D. people is through their soul. Our incarnate bodies aren't actually real, we just create them. Therefore, if I'm escorted by the soul of an angel, I can get in. Which leads me to you.

You have pieces of angel soul all mixed up with yours. I'm going to remove those pieces, take them with me, and use them to get me and Jeongin into heaven." 

"I have angel soul?! In my soul?!" 

"Yes." 

"What angel?"

"Hyunjin. Your original guardian angel." This surprised her. How did Seungmin know about him? And not just about him, but his name. Not only that, but he was aware that it was Hyunjin's soul wrapped up with hers. She couldn't even feel it- what did this mean? Noticing her expression shifting through a million different emotions, he continued to speak. 

"I'm not sure how he managed to get his soul all mixed up with yours. No matter what, though, that means I can use it to get into heaven. If we're lucky, your soul remains intact, and then I'd owe you one." 

"Is he still alive? I thought he'd disappeared, I-" 

"Yes. If his soul's still existent, he's still alive. When an angel dies, they dissipate." 

"There's no, like... angel heaven?" 

"We live in heaven as you live in Earth, but to kill an angel is to kill an immortal being. They dissolve into a million fragments. Technically they'd still exist, but on the equivalent of an atomic level. The good news for you, though, is that means you may still be able to find him. If part of his soul is in yours, some of yours may be in his. I don't know your soul well enough to tell you if the whole thing is present." 

"Do you know where he is?" She asked, eyes widening slightly. She didn't like the idea of her soul being split up, and she was inclined for some reason to try and find her real guardian angel. She didn't know if there were some logistics that surrounded what guardians get matched to what humans, but after hearing everything about him, and then Felix... it was something she was a bit attached to. 

"No." Seungmin answered. "If I did, I'd just use his soul." That... contradicted his earlier point. Still, she'd have to find him later. For now... she was actually considering helping the fallen angels. Felix obviously hated them, but they hadn't hurt her, and they had promised to do their best to leave her unharmed. There was still a lot of risk, though, maybe more than they let on. 

"I guess I-" She started to say, wanting to ask a few more questions. As she did, though, she heard an earsplitting, high pitched ringing resonating within her skull, almost incapacitating her. Sinking to the floor, she fell onto her knees, holding her hands to her head. It only took all of ten seconds to stop. She could barely see as it faded, headache jumping to her brain in a matter of an instant. 

"Ugh, demons." She heard Felix's voice above her, although she was struggling to look up to him. "We're here to take back Y/N. Just what do you think you're doing?"


	8. Rescue

Chapter warnings: Mild language and violence

"You're not welcome here." Seungmin seethed as Felix, Chan, and two other men appeared behind her. Jeongin had readied himself, letting his wings out in all visibility, Seungmin following suit. 

"Us? You're the one that took Y/N." Felix was on the verge of shouting. 

"We're not here for a fight." Chan cut in, trying to keep the situation from getting out of hand. "We just want her back, unharmed." 

"I'm not trying to hurt her!" Seungmin argued. "But I'm not above hurting you!" 

"I know you don't want to do that." 

"You have five seconds to get out of my house." He snarled, "Before I throw you out." 

"Suit yourself." One of the men next to Chan shrugged, pulling out a knife from his belt. It didn't look like a normal hunting knife, though, or even a kitchen knife. It was sleek and dark, and seemed to be carved up with symbols that she didn't recognize. The sight seemed to put her captors off slightly, but they quickly returned to standing their ground. Jeongin pulley's something out of his pocket, slipping it onto his hands. Taking a closer look, she realized that they were brass knuckles, also carved with some sort of weird language. 

"We can talk about this," Chan said, putting his hands up. "There's no reason to-" Before he could even finish his sentence, the man with the knife lunged towards the side where she was closer to. As he came close to her she realized he was slightly taller than the other members of the angel's group, eyes unwavering as he sliced towards her kidnappers. Jeongin was quick to retaliate with a punch to the gut, a blow so forceful that the man coughed up a tiny spatter of blood. 

"Ugh!" Bang Chan yelled in frustration, rolling his sleeves up as his hands began to... glow? She could barely tell, as the difference was almost invisible, but she could nonetheless sense it. "This is not what we wanted Minho! Just-" Turning to Felix, he demanded, "Get Y/N out of here, she doesn't need to see this!" 

"But," Felix argued, "I want to fight to, I-" 

"Go! Now!" Eyes wavering slightly, Felix let out a harsh breath of dissatisfaction, before stomping over to Y/N, spreading his wings, and slipping a hand around her hip. 

"Close your eyes." He said, the air around her beginning to vibrate uncomfortably. A bit scared, she did as he asked, waiting until his word to reopen them. She couldn't tell if they were shut for two seconds or two years, brain swimming with whatever energy he was giving off. Finally, he spoke again. "Alright, you're fine." As soon as he was sure she was stable, eyes fluttering open, he removed his hand, moving to sit down on the bed as he folded his wings. They were back in her room. 

"Are they going to be okay?" She asked, eyebrows tilted in concern. 

"They'll be fine. It's two versus three." 

"Oh, right..." she considered. "Who were the other two guys?" 

"Those were the people we were talking about before." Felix said. "The ones Chan wanted to call?" 

"Changbin?" She asked, the only name they had mentioned before. 

"Yeah," he nodded, "That was the one who was still standing with Chan. The one with the knife is named Minho. He was in my squad for a long time. It's nice to see he hasn't changed." Hadn't changed? So it was comforting to watch an angel take all of a minute to try and kill someone? Maybe it was her previous misconceptions, but she had always imagined angels as otherworldly, do-no-wrong beings. It was strange to see them acting like... guys. 

"Chan wanted to avoid a fight," Felix kept explaining, leaning back. "He really just wanted to know why they were trying to get to you, because then we'd be able to defend you better. All we know is that they've asked you for a favor." 

"Oh!" Her eyes lit up, actually happy to be able to be of help. "He explained it to me!" 

"He... what?" 

"Yeah!"

"...So the evil villain just told you his whole master plan? Has Seungmin never seen a bad movie, or...?" She shook his head. 

"It's not like that... I think he just wants me to trust him. He said that he wasn't trying to hurt me. Trying to get me to believe that when I don't even know what he's doing is a little suspicious, don't you think?"

"I mean, I guess..." Felix mumbled, still a bit annoyed. "So, what did they want?" 

"He..." she started, reluctant. What would it mean for Seungmin and Jeongin if they found out? Even more confusing, why was she still attached to them? Something about this didn't feel right. "He wants to get back into heaven." She said with a sigh. "Apparently, Hyunjin's soul is all mixed up with mine, and he thinks that if he can remove the pieces, he can use them to get back in, sort of like an I.D. card, since none of you will help him get in." 

"Are you serious?" Felix asked. "That'll never work, right? It's- it's impossible, I-" 

"How should I know?" She asked. "This is all completely new to me." 

"How did Hyunjin even get involved with your soul? He's been gone for ages, and I've never sensed it, I... Do those bastards know where he is? I swear, I'll fuck up every last one of-" 

"No," she raised her hands, trying to get him to settle, "I asked, he said he had no idea." 

"And you believe him?"

"Yeah, I tend to." She said defensively. "There's nothing we can do, now, we should just wait for Chan." Sighing, Felix looked to the right, avoiding eye contact with her. 

"You should get some rest, you must be tired." 

"Not really," she said, a bit offended that he thought she was so fragile. "And every time I try and sleep, something bad happens, so I'd rather wait up. I'll be fine." Felix wasn't in the mood to argue, muttering to himself under his breath. 

"This is all so... strange." As he said this, the room filled with a bright light. At first, she thought the other angels were back, causing her a bit of relief. If it ended that quickly, they had surely one. Still, as the glow grew, she realized that it wasn't nearly as whiteish-blue as that of the angels. Rather, it was more of a grayish light, with red undertones...

Appearing from thin air, a man about Felix's height was standing in the middle of the room. He was dressed completely in black, with two curving blades set in either side of his belt. He had a smug look on his face, matching the close-hugging, show-offish style he was dressed in, complete with chains and boots. 

"I agree," he laughed, looking at both of their shocked faces. "Very, very strange."


	9. I Don't Like Labels

Chapter warnings: None

Felix jumped back in surprise, both him and Y/N staring in shock. Looking to him questioningly, she searched for any form of reassurance or answer as to what was going on. Was she going to get kidnapped again? This was getting tiring, to say the least. Even though Felix didn't make eye contact with her, she could tell that he recognized the man simply by the glint in his eyes. Still, she couldn't discern whether it was a happy familiarity, or a dreading one. 

"Han, what are you doing here?" He said, hands tensed at his sides, almost as if he was in a nervous stance. 

"Ugh, you're so formal." He laughed, leaning over, a strong juxtaposition to Felix's posture. "I told you, Jisung is fine. How many millennia have we known each other for?" 

"You didn't answer my question." He said, almost in a whiny voice, something she'd never heard before. They must have known each other better than she'd initially assessed. 

"Because it's none of your business." Jisung grinned, obviously much less concerned with the situation than her guardian angel. "This is a problem with souls, which just so happens to be my forte." 

"Who is this?" She leaned over and muttered into Felix's ear, trying to get some information about the situation while the new arrival was looking around the room. Still, before he could answer, Han caught it. 

"Aww, you don't have to ask Felix, kid, you can ask me yourself." He said, walking over to her and patting her on the head, causing her to back up a step. The way he was so comfortable was off-putting to her. 

"Uh, alright... Han?" She wasn't sure what exactly she was meant to call him. 

"It's okay," Felix mumbled, trying to ease her apparent nerves. 

"No! No! She's absolutely fine!" Jisung reassured her, holding out a hand which she didn't take. "Han is a bit stiff, but anything for you. Or if you prefer Jisung, or just Ji, or Sung, Sungie, S-"

"Han." Felix said, stopping him. 

"Chill out! Kid was just asking a quesiton!"

"Which you're not even letting her ask." Turning back to her, the man offered, 

"Alright, what did you want to know?" 

"Who... who even are you?" 

"I just told you, Han Jisung." 

"Yeah, but... you know." He laughed. 

"You mean what am I?" She nodded embarrassedly. With all the prospects of angels, demons, fallen angels, and now all this soul mess, she had no idea what was going on. As far as she knew, this guy could be a lizard man or a unicorn. Luckily, he was happy to provide the answer. 

"I'm an angel, technically. I just have... more specific duties." Breathing, thinking about how best to put it, he continued, "There's no really good word for it... You know how angels aren't exactly like you expected, but some of the myths are right?" She nodded. "That's kind of how it is, but more extreme." Seeing her confusion, he reluctantly said, "I'm kind of like a reaper." 

"Like, a grim reaper?" She asked incredulously, sighing, he flopped down on her bed without asking.

"See, this is why I didn't want to say that. It's not like that, there's no creepy death omens or picking your due time. I'm just meant to help work out issues with souls, get them where they're going, or handle extenuating circumstances. Like yours." 

"Mine?" She asked. "You mean my soul getting tangled with Hyunjin's?"

"Ah, so it's his, then? I knew it was an angel soul, so I suppose it'd make sense that it's your guardian angel's." 

"He was her guardian angel." Felix cut in. "He disappeared." Jisung shrugged. 

"Uh, okay? Anyway, we need to figure out how accurate Seungmin's assessment of your soul really is. Honestly, my guess is that he's sensing residual energy from Hyunjin's relationship with you, and that there's no real pieces of his soul in yours or your body. Still, it's worth checking." 

"We should wait for Chan." Felix said immediately. 

"Ugh, isn't Minho with him?" Jisung asked. 

"And Changbin." Y/N answered, completely unaware of his tone. "How did you know?"

"Sensing souls has its perks. I can pretty much tell they're together." 

"What about Seungmin and Jeongin?" Felix asked, leaning forward in anticipation for the answer. 

"I have no official jurisdiction over their existence, but..." he paused. "I think they're fine." Felix's shoulders dropped. She couldn't tell if he was upset or relieved. "Anyway, they should be back soon. For now, would you mind if I looked?" He asked, patting on the bed next to her. Looking to Felix, he nodded in approval, giving her the go ahead to sit down next to him. 

She sat a few feet away, causing him to roll his eyes and slide over, one leg hanging off and the other knee lifted up, pressed against her thigh as he grabbed her face lightly, readjusting her position before letting go again. His eyes were enchantingly dark, completely unmoving as he stared. It was unnerving, how still he was able to keep his eyes, but it somehow kept her enamored. 

"You have beautiful eyes." He said, still gazing at hers. Feeling the heat rush to her face, she glanced away, breaking eye contact in discomfort. "No, no, don't look away, I'm trying to see your soul." 

"Huh?" 

"You've never heard that phrase? The eyes are the window to the soul?"

"I mean, yeah, but-" 

"You didn't think it had any weight?" She finally looked back, nodding. "It's not completely wrong. Not in the way that people think, of course, the better I know you, the easier it is for me to see your soul, but it's best through the eyes." He said with a small smile. "People with nice eyes also tend to have nice souls." 

"What about your eyes? Can you see your own soul?" 

"My soul is different." He said. She was worried she was annoying him with questions, but he seemed pleased that she was comfortable enough to inquire. "It's a long story, I'll explain it some other time." After a few more seconds of silence, Felix coughed. 

"Uh, how long is that gonna take, Han?" 

"Depends, how accurate do you want my assessment of her soul to be?" 

"Well, I-" 

"Don't worry, I feel Chan coming back. We can talk about it in just a second." Finally, he broke his gaze away from her, leaving her almost in a stupor. Standing, he rubbed his hands together. "I have a lot to talk about."


	10. Global Positioning System

Chapter warnings: None

When the three angels returned, they weren't exactly in the best of shapes. While none of them seemed too heavily injured, they were covered in blood and grabbing various parts of themselves in pain. Minho had a very obvious, patterned bruise where he must have been struck by Jeongin. Chan looked relatively unharmed, holding his hand over Changbin's gut with a soft light, presumably trying to heal him. 

"Jisung," Chan said with a tired smile. "You made it." 

"You invited him?" Minho asked with a glare. 

"No need for that," Jisung said in response, "I'm just here to work out our little soul problem. I'm sure Chan explained it to you." 

"Actually, Felix did." He responded with a bit of annoyance in his voice. 

"Couldn't care less. Anyway, we have some talking to do, let's sit down." Minho moved to sit down on the far end of the bed next to Felix, but Jisung beat him to it, sitting between the angel and Y/N. Rolling his eyes, Minho sat in a chair while Chan and Changbin sat on the floor, the former still trying to assist. 

"Now, about the topic of Y/N's soul." He started. "I'm actually having a slight bit of trouble seeing it, as she's surprisingly complex." She didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult, so she just chose to ignore it. "I assumed that Seungmin had just been sensing residual energy from her relationship with Hyunjin, but that turned out to not be the case. Her soul really is tangled up with his." 

"Has something like that ever happened before?" Chan inquired. She was a bit surprised by this- she'd assumed that as an archangel he'd know that kind of thing. 

"Not... exactly." 

"What does that mean?" 

"See, there's been instances of tangled souls in the past, but it's usually in the instance of a nephilim." At this, Felix practically jumped off the bed, staring at Y/N in horror. 

"Are you serious?!" 

"Calm down! We don't know if that's the case!"

"What's going on?" She asked, starting to get nervous. Was something wrong with her? "What's a nephilim?"

"The child of a human and an angel." Minho explained. 

"What?!" She exclaimed, having an almost identical reaction to Felix. "I'm pregnant?!" 

"Stop!" Jisung said, holding his hands up between them. "I never said that. I said that it was the most common intense of tangled souls. Did you have a relationship with Hyunjin?" 

"I didn't even know he existed until I met Felix!" She yelled. 

"Well then that settles it." He said with a sigh. "No nephilim. Stop panicking." Making sure they were all resettled, Chan smiling in amusement at their outburst, he continued. "To remove the soul, I need both parties present, otherwise it may dissipate once out of the body." 

"We can't do that." Felix said. "Hyunjin is gone." 

"Well, he has to be alive, otherwise we'd be having complications in Y/N. Do you have any idea where he could be?" 

"We haven't heard from him in months." Bang Chan said. "We've looked, but..." 

"That isn't really an option." Jisung finally said, almost rudely. "Just, to be blunt, if I try and take the pieces of Hyunjin's soul out, best case scenario they return to him. Likely case, they dissipate and he loses some, if not all of it, and in the worst case, it takes her soul with it, killing her as well." She didn't really know what to think about that. She didn't want to die, especially not because she was honestly fine at the moment. Sure, she may die at Seungmin's hand, but it seemed like a far less certain death. 

"That option," Minho offered, "You said the pieces may return to his soul. Why?"

"That's a stupid question." Jisung said, rolling his eyes. 

"No, actually, why?" Felix asked, head tilting in curiosity. 

"Oh, because souls are like... magnet dust, I guess." He started, far more willing to explain to him than to his cohort for some reason. "They're attracted to themselves. Souls aren't meant to be split up, so when they are, the pieces drift towards each other." 

"Is that happening now?" Changbin asked. 

"Uh, yeah, probably." Jisung shrugged. "Not enough that she's moving towards Hyunjin, but I suppose there could be a tilt one way or another." 

"So we could use her as a GPS!" Bang Chan offered, excited about this prospect.

"Um, doubtful." Jisung crushed their little idea. "I can barely see her soul as it is, trying to figure out what direction it's tending could take ages." 

"But if you took it out, it would move on its own?" Changbin posed. 

"Yeah, generally." 

"Is there any way to... kind of do that?" Bang Chan asked. 

"You mean like... partially remove the pieces?" Jisung asked, tilting his head. 

"Wouldn't taking out little pieces just cause them to dissipate faster? We'd just be killing him slowly." Minho said. 

"Well someone knows everything." 

"He's right." Chan sighed. "We can't risk disintegrating his soul." After a moment though, Jisung tilted his head.

"Well, actually..." He looked to her briefly. "I can't promise this would work, but I could potentially just tug on the pieces of his soul. It wouldn't pull it out or remove it from the bigger mass, but it could agitate it enough to start trying to get back to its counterpart. It's that same GPS idea, but with a little... push." 

"What are the risks of that?" Felix asked. 

"Uh, I accidentally pull too hard and a piece splits. I'm not sure if I'd be able to grab it and repair it quickly enough." 

"That seems too shaky." Minho said. 

"I think we should go for it." Jisung decided immediately afterwards. "We'll just have to trust Y/N to tell us when she feels like a piece is going to split." Her head snapped towards him. 

"Hold on, I don't even know what all of this soul business feels like, how can you expect-" 

"You'll be fine." He laughed. "And we may be able to get your guardian angel back!"

"I'm her guardian angel." Felix mumbled, but no one caught it. 

"So," Bang Chan asked. "What do we have to do?"


	11. Of Souls

Chapter warnings: Mild language 

"Alright, try and stay as still as possible." Jisung directed as she lay on the bed, the rest of the boys surrounding her curiously. The angels had dragged it to practically the dead center of the room so that they could help if something were to go wrong. She felt like she was in surgery, minus the anesthesia. Jisung was moving her body just barely every now and then, adjusting an arm or tilting her jaw. 

"Are you ready?" He asked, looking down. 

"Hold on," Felix interrupted. "How exactly is this going to work?" 

"Like, the process?" He asked, receiving a nod. "Well, I'm going to use the same techniques I use for taking people's souls away from their bodies to try and latch onto hers. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to feel out Hyunjin's soul and just pull on that, but if not, I'll just have to grab the whole thing. Then, I'm going to yank on it until the pieces of his soul instinctively try to return to each other. If it works, we'll be able to use it sort of like a GPS." 

"What could go wrong?" Minho muttered, glaring at him. 

"I'll tell you." Jisung said curtly. "Her soul could fly out of her body and dissipate before I can put it back. Hyunjin's could do the same. If Hyunjin's manages to escape and reform, though, he'd be able to move spiritually again, meaning that he'd be free from a corporeal form had he been trapped." Looking around, he asked, "Is that what we're assuming? Because you do realize he may just not want to be found." 

"I know he's stuck." Bang Chan said grimly. "He wouldn't have left us otherwise." Jisung shrugged, looking down at Y/N, who was now more than nervous. Her soul could disappear, scatter, before Jisung could even do anything about it. She didn't even know Hyunjin, and this might kill him as well. It was more than she wanted to think about, so she changed the subject. 

"Will I be able to feel it?" She asked. He nodded. 

"Unfortunately, yes." 

"...Unfortunately?" He looked up at the other men briefly, as if debating whether to tell her. 

"Your soul is synonymous with your body, they have the same elements, basically. Since your soul doesn't have neurons or anything, you'll be feeling it all mentally, so your body is in no trouble, but..." He breathed in. "I can't tell which parts of your soul will trigger physical responses in which parts of your body. I may grab your arm, pull your hair, I can't tell. It may be fine, it... it may be uncomfortable at times." 

Breathing in deeply, she debated the repercussions of this. As long as Hyunjin's soul was stuck in her body, Seungmin would come after her. That didn't seem so bad at first... he didn't seem to be threatening, but then again, he was planning on removing the piece anyway. At that point, it was a matter of whether Jisung would be better at it or not. He appeared to be more experienced, that was without doubt, but the fallen angels also had more of a plan. Still, with all the angels staring at her, awaiting her response, she relented. 

"That's fine." She sighed, leaning back down. "Just try and make it fast." Nodding, he knelt on the bed, lifting himself up as she watched in slight curiosity and confusing. Then, catching her off guard, he swung his leg over to the other side of her, straddling her stomach in an awkward kneel. Noticing her discomfort, he promptly apologized. 

"Sorry, I have to be able to get to your soul." She looked over at Felix, hoping for reassurance, but he just looked annoyed if anything. Minho was standing next to him, also seemingly looking for his expression, or at least a glance. Changbin and Chan were on her other side, presumably, as she didn't see them next to Felix. Before she could catch his attention, Jisung grabbed her face lightly and turned it back. 

"I'm gonna need eye contact for the first few minutes." She swallowed involuntarily, nodding as he began staring into her eyes just as before. She was more than uncomfortable with the silence, but she couldn't exactly ask them to put on a banger while they tried to remove a soul from her body. Every time she briefly shut her eyes, she felt like she was interrupting his progress. Does this bitch blink? She found herself thinking, before mentally reprimanding herself. He was trying to help her, she shouldn't be rude. 

She cried out suddenly, back angled slightly as she fell something jerk inside of her chest. It was around where her lungs were, although she could tell it wasn't a breathing problem. It was hard to place, but it was incredibly strange, and she did not like it all. He had warned her, and it wasn't exactly... hurting, but it felt wrong. 

"What is that?" She accidentally said aloud, eyes starting to water against her own volition. 

"Souls aren't meant to be messed with besides their separation from the body. It's reacting defensively." Changbin cut in. "Fight or flight, you know?" 

"Stop it," Felix said, "You're hurting her." 

"She'll get used to it," Jisung said in response, gritting his teeth and beginning to sweat with concentration. 

"Felix said to stop." Minho shoved his shoulder, nearly causing him to fall off of her. Her body relaxed as she felt the hold release, breathing in deeply. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Jisung yelled, shoving him back, nearly sending him sprawling to the ground. Minho scrambled back into a stable position, glaring as Chan tried to get between the two of them. Jisung continued shouting at him, "Do you want to find Hyunjin, or not? There's no option here! If it's too much for her to handle, she can tell me. Get the fuck out, you're going to ruin this." 

"No! I"m not going to sit outside while-" 

"Minho..." Felix muttered, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Try to calm down." 

"Maybe it's better if you go." Chan agreed, causing Felix to want to protest, but he remained silent. 

"No! Han is causing problems too, why-" 

"We need Han for this, he's the only one who can manipulate souls. There aren't many options here." Minho looked between them, trying to find some form of reassurance. 

"Come on, Chan," Felix finally said. "He'll be fine." 

"One more word out of him and I'm throwing him back to heaven." Jisung muttered, turning back to Y/N. "Now let me actually do this."


	12. Grocery Run

Chapter warnings: Mild language

The feeling got worse as Jisung continued. She started being able to feel the disagreeable sensation in specific parts of her body, just as he had described. It was mostly just unsettling because of the sheer abruptness, though. It would be pulling on her bones one second, then ripping at her liver the next. By the time she had adjusted, it had moved on. His hands were laying flat on her body, one on her abdomen and the other on her upper chest between her collarbones. His eyes had since slid from hers and were now shut, concentration twitching on his face. 

Every now and then, she gasped out in surprise or pain at a new feeling, causing Felix to get jumpy. Every time it looked like he was going to intervene, though, Bang Chan would touch his wrist, warning him against interrupting. Han began breathing almost as heavily as her, digging his nails into her skin as Felix watched in abject concern. Just as she was considering telling him to stop, the pain completely faded. Simultaneously, Jisung flew off her body, slamming back into the wall behind him with a pained noise. 

Vision clearing, she sat up, shaking her head in an attempt to organize her thoughts. Felix had run to her side, Minho not far behind, while Changbin and Chan ran to help Jisung. He held a hand to the back of his head, groaning at the blow. 

"Are you okay?" Felix asked her, looking at the crescent shaped nail marks near her neck. They were reddening, but not profusely bleeding. She nodded shakily. 

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. What happened?" 

"Yeah, what's going on?" Minho glared at Jisung. Looking at him, Y/N finally saw just how battered he was. In the invisible explosion, his wings had fallen out of his control, making them visible to her. They were much bigger than any of the other angels, which seemed strange to her. Not only that, but they were a sleek black, feathers falling around him like strange, dark flower petals. The hooked weapons that had been affixed to his sides has caught on his black pants, pulling out a few threads. 

"Well, I found Hyunjin's soul." Han muttered, wiping a little bit of black liquid off the corner of his mouth before she could tell what it was. 

"And?" Bang Chan asked. 

"I tried to pull it out, and it was all actually going pretty well. Unfortunately, the more unwrapped it got, the more agitated it was. I think once Y/N's soul reacted to her pain, it moved to protect her." 

"I... how?" She asked. "Can it do that without Hyunjin telling it to?" 

"The soul is, in essence, Hyunjin himself, so yes, it can. It's completely wrapped itself around your soul." He said with a sigh. 

"What does that mean?" Minho growled. "You can't do it?" 

"No," Han glared in return, "In fact, now that the whole thing is a consistent shape, it'll be easier to use as a method of tracking." 

"Which is why Hyunjin just beat the shit out of you." He muttered under his breath. Ignoring him, Han nodded to Chan as the archangel helped him up, folding his wings back into his body as Y/N watched with awe. 

"Are you okay?" He asked her, waving a hand in front of her face and laughing. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or an angel." He joked. 

"Are you?" She said in response, laughing weakly as well. 

"I'll be fine." He waved a hand. "I'll get him back for it later. Even if he didn't mean to." Thinking briefly, he posited, "At least we know that Seungmin would have trouble getting to your soul, even if he did manage to lay hands on you." That statement brought the reality of the situation crashing back to her, smile falling a little.

"Nice one." Minho muttered under his breath. 

"Hey, what do you say you grab something to eat before we start to track Hyunjin? Wouldn't want you to go through an angel door without eating." She tilted her head. 

"I would think that I'd want my stomach to be empty for that ride." She thought aloud. "And I thought angels didn't have to eat?" She asked. 

"We don't." Chan said.

"But we can-" Han interjected with a protesting tone. "And I like to. So, let's go!" He walked over to her fridge, opening it up before she could stop him. "Damn, there's like, nothing in here. Don't you keep cake around?" 

"Why would I have a cake?" She asked in confusion. It wasn't her birthday. 

"Humans are so weird. Let's go out!" 

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Changbin said, offering his first real hard opinion since she'd met him. "We don't know what's happening with Y/N's soul, your wings could pop out again, we all carry weapons, it's-" 

"Aww, come on Changbin, don't be such a downer." Jisung rolled his eyes. "I'm metaphorically starving, and Y/N has to eat sometime. I know this really nice place, like ten minutes away, it's-" 

"This isn't a game!" Minho argued. "We don't have a lot of time, and you're not being helpful." 

"Calm down, you two." Chan said, feeling like he'd repeated himself for the hundredth time today, the millionth time this century. They eventually came to a compromise. It was too risky to go out all as a group and eat in a restaurant or anything, but they could go to the grocery store and pick up whatever they wanted so they could eat in privacy. 

She definitely didn't want to go through an angel door for something so menial as a grocery run, so they settled for walking. Han was basically running his mouth about how he wanted to fly the whole time, at least until Felix mentioned that he thought walking had a certain charm about it. He reminisced about how when he first became a guardian angel, he had accidentally lost Y/N because he wasn't flying near enough by, so he resorted to walking next to her. Her face grew hot as she thought about all the dumb shit he must have witnessed her do. Shaking her head, she chose not to think about it anymore as they arrived at the store. 

Chan looked mildly intrigued by everything, while Changbin was practically grabbing anything he could get his hands on to look at it or read the label. Apparently seraphims didn't get much time playing around with humans. Jisung and Minho were staring each other down out of the corners of their eyes, only breaking for the former to find a cheesecake he liked and the latter to run to the freezer section to grab a pint of strawberry ice cream. Angels also apparently loved desserts. 

Once she and the other boys had grabbed what they wanted, she led them to the self-checkout register, already sighing internally at having to cover the costs of their little excursion. As she range everything up and pressed the pay button, though, Felix interrupted excitedly. 

"Ooh! Chan! Do that thing that you can do!" Chan looked confused for a minute, before his eyes shifted. 

"Oh, sure." Lifting up a hand, several high value bills appeared in his hand, with almost no transition, it was like they'd just... appeared. Looking at him in awe, she grabbed them, morbidly curious to see if the machine would accept them. To her surprise, it did, ringing her up and dumping out the change. 

"People don't get suspicious of that?" She asked incredulously. 

"Well, I don't really show it off." He laughed. "Plus, it was worse before. You should have seen the riot the first time Minho walked into a store and just... walked out with the stuff." 

"I thought it was all free!!" Jisung mocked in a high pitched voice, earning himself a more-than-playful punch to the upper arm.

"Shut up." 

"Let's get out of here before we cause a scene?" Chan offered, directing the group of practically-children out of the facility. They walked down the road to a nearby park, sitting atop a low rise brick wall to eat. Minho ate like an animal, shoving his face with as much as he could possibly fit at one time, causing her to roll her eyes. Jisung wasn't much better. Chan and Changbin were well composed enough, and Felix was barely touching his. Normally she'd attribute behavior like that to nausea, but that wouldn't exactly make sense in this situation. 

"Y/N, can I try yours?" Jisung whined, already having finished his own food, looking over in hope. 

"Hey, I'm the only one who actually has to eat," she joked. "Go get more if you need it!" 

"Aww, come on, just a bite?" 

"Fine." She relented, amused as he opened his mouth, waiting. 

"What are you, a baby?" Minho grumbled. "I thought you were supposed to be some powerful soul-angel." His tone was scathe and mocking, but Jisung ignored him as she laughed, feeding him a bite off her spoon. 

"Wait, that's actually really good." He said, eyes wide. 

"Can I-" 

"No." She smiled, "You said one bite." She took one herself as he lamented, actually considering going back into the store for more. Minho started bickering with him again, Chan intervening every now and then to settle their mini-fights. Looking over to her other side, Felix was still staring, silent. 

"Hey, is everything okay?" She asked, sliding over so that they were closer together, creating a little bubble away from the group. He looked up, a bit startled by her seemingly sudden appearance. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm good. Just thinking." 

"...Okay." She said, not wanting to push him. "If there's anything you need to say, though, feel free to... you know. Talk." He looked at her for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. 

"Uh, alright... yeah, sure."


	13. Entry

Chapter warnings: None

"I promise you this is the right place." 

"And I'm telling you it's not." Minho and Jisung were arguing, as per usual. This time, though, Chan was too concerned to bother breaking it up. Jisung, using his control over Y/N's- or rather, the mixed Y/N-Hyunjin soul- managed to lead them to this place. The problem, was, there was no way Hyunjin was here.

Of course, Y/N had no clue what was going on. She was still disoriented from all the angelic energy she had been put through in just a couple days. However, the other angels seemed to know what was going on, and it didn't look good. The building in front of her was decrepit to say the least, practically falling apart at every seam. The windows were boarded and the doors were chained, although she had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Walking up to the door, Minho was trying to explain. 

"There's no angelic energy here, we'd be able to feel them." Minho argued. "This is a waste of time." 

"I'm telling you, her soul is coming here, so even if Hyunjin isn't here, she has some ties to this place that are worth investigating." 

"So you admit you don't think he's here!"

"I didn't say that!" Without even giving them a second glance, Bang Chan walked up to the door, placing a hand on it so that the chains disintegrated and clanked to the pavement. When he moved to push in on the door, though, it was as if it was stuck. 

"Y/N, open the door, would you?" He asked. Tilting her head in confusion, she argued, 

"If you aren't able to open it, I definitely can't." 

"Just trust me." Shrugging, she walked over, not expecting much to happen. However, the door was incredibly easy to open. She didn't even have to push at all- it was like the swinging door of an office building, no knob or latch that she could see. 

"Uh... what?" She asked in confusion, not sure exactly what to think. 

"There's warding." Changbin muttered in annoyance, as well as a hint of concern. "Someone knows exactly what they're dealing with. 

"Warding?" 

"It's like a spell, almost." Minho explained. "You know how in horror movies they always draw those creepy circles and symbols to keep demons away? Well, that's a real thing you can do." So he knew about horror movies, but not about paying in stores? Strange.

"Okay, but I thought you guys were angels." She pointed out, worried that something was amiss.

"We are," Chan quelled her fears. "There's different types of warding for all kinds of supernatural things. Demons, angels, spirits, everything." 

"But it doesn't affect you," Minho added. "Because you're human." 

"I'm surprised it didn't reject her because of Hyunjin's soul." Jisung narrowed his eyes. "Almost as if..."

"They specifically warded it so that she could get in." Felix finished, eyes darting between the other members looking for some form of direction. 

"Well, then, I guess I'm going in." She said, moving to walk through the door. 

"Wait!" Felix said, grabbing her arm. "You can't!" 

"Why not? I'm meant to, so-" 

"It's got to be a trap, they're after Hyunjin's soul, and they won't be as nice trying to get it out of you as Jisung was." 

"Well, if you can't go in, I'm not seeing many options, here." She glared. "Can you break warding?" 

"For most angels, no," Bang Chan said. "As an archangel, I have a significantly different power, as well as a good bit of strength, so I may be able to do something, but it'll take time." 

"We don't have time." She argued. 

"We had time enough to go goof off in the store." Minho muttered under his breath. 

"I'm not taking suggestions, I'm going to go get my guardian angel." She growled. He had looked after her for years without her even knowing, and she wasn't about to just leave him to die. Felix looked almost hurt as she said this, but she didn't have the mental capacity or the attention span to deal with it. As she walked through the doorway, he tried to stop her, but he was pushed back by some invisible force. It was entrancing to watch. 

"I'll be fine." She said. "Just let Chan work on the warding and come in as soon as you can." At first she was sprinting down the halls, but eventually she settled for walking. She was taking in the crumbling walls and bent support beams as she went, wondering who in their right mind chose this place to reside. She could hear water leaking onto a metallic surface, although she didn't exactly know from where. It all had a musty smell, air stagnating around her. She guessed this place didn't get much of a breeze. 

Eventually, she came to a large, open room. There were stairs on the far wall- some leading up, others down. She had seen enough bad American television to know that descending was a poor choice, so she chose to go up the stairs first. When she reached the top, she found herself in an observation box looking out over the large room. Did this used to be some sort of distribution center or packaging facility? It was clearly equipped for management... It couldn't have been the reason for this setting, though, as no one was there. 

She considered going back out to check on the angels, silently hoping that they were able to break through. As hot-headed as she had been just moments ago, she was quickly realizing that she did not want to deal with whatever was going on by herself. There was no way Hyunjin was just... chilling here by himself. There had to be a threat. Not only that, but she had never met him. What if he despised her for unwittingly enslaving him? Or he left for some other reason and didn't want to be found? There were endless factors that she couldn't predict as she descended the stairs and turned towards those of the lower level. Taking a deep breath, she took one step into the darkness. 

"What a surprise, I didn't expect you to actually arrive here at any point in the near future." She heard a deep voice from behind her, spinning, she saw two stomach-turning, familiar frames. Seungmin and Jeongin.


	14. Frescoe

Chapter warnings: Mild language and Mild gore

"S-Seungmin!" She shouted in surprise, backing up against the wall. She glanced left and right for signs of an escape route, but she was loosely cornered in by the bars of the staircase.

"It's not worth it." He said calmly as she fretted, stepping towards her with Jeongin on his tail. "You have no means of getting out." She turned around helplessly, wondering if there was any way to get out through the basement. He noticed this as well- he seemed to be very perceptive of her actions. "If you want to go down, we can take you. Actually, I'll rephrase that, you're coming down to the bottom floor with us." He said, walking towards her again. She shrunk back, but he simply passed her, putting her between him and Jeongin. 

"You can just walk with us." Jeongin muttered. "Or not. But I'd really rather not drag you..." She looked up at him, expecting to see a sarcastic glare, but he seemed genuine. His eyebrows were furrowed slightly, and his pupils were wavering, silently begging her to just comply. Sighing, she turned back, descending down the stairs after Seungmin, who was confident that she was following. 

When the staircase ended, she found that they were in a long hallway, too thin for her liking. It was just wide enough that they could walk, but her arms were brushing the sides fairly frequently. It was severely underlit, with a crappy overhead bulb every six or seven feet. It was egregiously tall, with wiring, insulation, and pipes hanging overhead, but she couldn't really see anything besides. At the end of the hallway, there was a rusty, iron door, bolted at the hinges and held in its frame tightly. 

"I..." Seungmin started as his slender fingers wrapped around the trigger of the handle. "Are you sure you want to come in here?"

"I thought you said it wasn't optional." She tilted her head slightly. 

"I've reconsidered."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know what will happen." He snapped, glaring at her.

"It'll be fine, snail," Jeongin reassured him. "It's worse if we don't show her." They locked in silent eye contact for a moment, then Seungmin relented, opening the door. As it swung, she peered in, eyes searching for this secret truth they had hidden from her, but the room was dark. 

"What... what am I looking at?" she asked, confused.

"Shh!" Jeongin said, but it was too late. Out of the darkness, she heard a whimper, followed by a hoarse voice.

"Y-Y/N?" She froze at her own name. She didn't recognize the voice, but she could tell that it was in pain. It sounded like they hadn't had water in days, the dryness making it almost impossible for the words to come out. Still, they managed. "P-please, t-tell me that's not her. You d-didn't bring Y/N here." 

"Seungmin, what's going on?" She asked in worry, still peering into the dark. Turning to Jeongin, he said,

"Would you mind?" Nodding, the other boy leaned over to his side, a click sounding. She watched the ceiling as the lights slowly warmed up, coiling around the room. It took nearly a full minute to make the room visible. As it heated up, she began noticing little nuances. The room was much wider than the hallway, but with a lower ceiling. It was incredibly dirty, and it looked like the floor might have been concrete under all the grit and grime. The walls were brick, although they were crumbling profusely. When her gaze slid to the center of the back wall, though, she gasped in horror. 

There was a taller, blonde man leaning against the wall, eyes fluttering as they struggled to open. His arms were wrapped around him and clad in an off-white, canvas-like fabric; a straitjacket. A large, metal collar was situated around his neck. It must have been three inches tall, and at least one thick. Attached to the front of it was a large metal ring connected to a long chain. 

Most horrifyingly of all, though, was his wings. She should have expected by now that this would have been an angel, but it was nothing like she'd expected. They were huge- almost as big as Jisung's. While all of the other angels had muter wing colors- everywhere from white, to creme, to black- his were a vibrant red, nearly emanating their own light in their color. 

They were spread out against the wall behind him, only held open by the large metal spikes driven through them. Their width was crumbling the bricks they were lodged into, but they still served their purpose. Looking close, she realized that it wasn't the man himself holding his frame up, but rather the piercings through his wings. As he heard her cry of fear, his eyes lifted, struggling even still, as if there were weights tied to them. Still, he managed. 

"Y-Y/N-" He muttered. "Why... why would you bring her t- t..." He swallowed. "Are you going to do this to her as well?" He asked in a vile tone.

"I plan on doing no such thing." Seungmin said, crossing his arms. "In fact, I wouldn't have had to go this far with you had you not struggled so much, Hyunjin." 

Hyunjin. This was Hyunjin. Her missing guardian angel, the overseer of her life, right in front of her. She'd suspected as soon as she saw an angel, but... she hadn't wanted to believe it. He was evidently in pain, and a lot of it. She had no idea what was going on, and she was all on her own, she could barely get her words out. 

"T-that's Hyunjin?" She asked. "Wh- what- why did you do this to him? Y-you said you weren't going to hurt me, you s-said-"

"You and Hyunjin are two different people. And I'll hurt you if I have to." Seungmin said simply. 

"Wait, she can see me?" Hyunjin demanded, suddenly struggling against his binding. "Just what the fuck are you playing at, you psychopath?!"

"Calm down, you'll kill yourself trying to escape." 

"All we want is to go back to heaven," Jeongin tried to interrupt, clearly less stoic than his counterpart. "You could have just let us in, that's all we want." 

"Why bring her into it?" Hyunjin growled in response, still not even addressing her. 

"Pieces of your soul are stuck to hers. We were planning on just using her soul, keep you out of the way." Seungmin explained, "However, she came to us, so it seems we have to deal with it now." Turning to her, he raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, where's your posse of freaks?" Just as he said this, a loud bang rang out. It seemed like they had resorted to less delicate means of trying to break the warding. 

"You won't get away with this." Is all she said as another loud bang sounded. Glaring at her, he turned to his partner. 

"You stay here and make sure everything is settled. I'll deal with them." And with that, he walked up the stairs.


	15. Confrontation

Chapter warnings: Mild language and violence

Seungmin had been unable to even make it to the door when he was thrown back through the dirt on the ground, sprawled out against the concrete with filth covering his pristine clothing. He grunted in pain and surprise, trying to scramble up, but slipped back onto his elbows. Staring up, all of them saw Chan, having busted through the door with their miniature battalion lined up behind him. 

"This is the last straw, Seungmin." He growled as he stepped forward, causing the man in question to try and crawl backwards a few inches. "Even if by some fucking mistake you make it to heaven, they'll find out what you did eventually. They'll throw you right back out. If you're lucky." He snarled. 

"You have no idea what's going on." He argued back, finally able to stand thanks to the help of Jeongin. The two deviants were staring the archangel down, Changbin one one side, and Felix and Minho on the other. Felix was glancing at her every so often, but he was caught up with making sure the two didn't make any sudden moves. Jisung moved behind them towards her, gesturing gently to Hyunjin while his captors were distracted. 

Realizing what he wanted her to do, she moved towards the angel, looking over his weak, hanging body, unsure of where to start. Noticing her hesitance, Jisung leaned over to mutter into her ear. 

"It's going to hurt no matter what. Just help him down and get it over with." And with that, he reached up to the highest point of his wing, yanking harshly on the stake so that it slid out of the muscle, causing it to clench up and fall slightly, putting more weight on the other binds. He cried out in pain, somehow finding the strength in his lungs when he had none left, getting Jeongin's attention. 

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Chan was still arguing with the two, Jisung looking over. They must have known they were freeing Hyunjin, but there wasn't much they could do about it. If they tried to attack, they'd be done for. They'd barely made it out the last time, and they had less of an advantage this time. She couldn't bring herself to rip out the stakes like Han had, but she started trying to cut through the straitjacket with a borrowed blade from the black angel. Running a hand over his severely knotted hair, she shushed him like a scared animal. 

"Shh, it'll be fine, just a few more..." When they finally freed him, he collapsed to the floor immediately, all of his open wounds staining the floor as she knelt to the ground beside him, trying to pull him into her lap. "Hey! Hyunjin! Stay with me, yeah?" She asked, starting to cry, although she didn't really know why. Yes, it was a viciously gruesome sight, what had been done to his body, but she'd technically never met him before today. It was like she had known him for a century, though...

"You don't understand what it's like to live down here-" Jeongin was trying to explain to the group of angels moving threateningly closer inch by inch. "You can go back to heaven whenever you want, but existing solely on Earth... it's suffocating, we're dying Chan I-" 

"We know that's not true." Felix turned up his nose in a bit of disgust. "We've been running around down here plenty thanks to you two. We have angels stationed on Earth." 

"But you can go back to heaven whenever you want!" HIs voice was starting to become panicked, as if he could just barely keep himself from flying into an outburst. It's like a turtle underwater, they can last a long, long time... but not forever." 

"If I recall, Jeongin," Changbin cut in quietly. "You were only thrown out of heaven at your own request. You were told that you'd be allowed reentry should you renounce your defense of..." His eyes slid over to Seungmin, but he didn't complete his sentence. 

"I can't do that. He didn't deserve to be thrown out, and I will stand by that, even if we never make it back." 

"But why?" Minho asked. "You say you're dying, but obviously-" 

"Because he's not like you!" Seungmin finally spoke again, practically screaming in anger. "Because he's nothing like you. He wouldn't fucking leave me to die-" 

"You were removed from heaven with good cause!" Chan snapped. "Don't pretend like this is our fault!" 

"But it is your fault! You left me that day, and I thought I was coming back to open arms! I didn't realize you wanted me dead, or I never would have bothered!" 

"You know that's not what happened, so don't even-" 

"You know what, Bang Chan? For once in your life could you just shut the fuck-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Chan's fist had connected with the upper side of his jawline, causing his body to momentarily jerk at an awkward angle before straightening back up. Seungmin was quick to launch back at him, wings flying out from his body in a feat of unfathomable speed. As they began throwing blows, Changbin tried to assist Chan, but he was quick to be cut off by a surprisingly attentive Jeongin. He hadn't been lying about his loyalty to Seungmin. 

It wasn't long before everyone aside from Y/N, Hyunjin, and Jisung were fighting each other. Of course, at that point, it wasn't so much as a fight as it was a beat-down. It was four to two. Even if Jisung had wanted to help, (which he didn't- this wasn't really his business), they wouldn't have needed it. It was a terrifying display of power to Y/N,but she couldn't stop watching. She almost felt herself get sick to the stomach as she made out Chan deliver a final kick to Seungmin's side as he lay on the floor, coughing up some sort of liquid. 

"Felix, tie them up. I'll deal with them properly once we've made sure Y/N and Hyunjin are alright." He muttered, the man nodding in agreement. Walking over to the other group, he wiped a little bit of blood off his mouth, crouching down so that he was at their eye level. Y/N shrank back slightly, still a little bit shaken from the fight. He tilted his head, confused. 

"What's the matter?" 

"Man, you just beat two people half to death right in front of her." Jisung tried to remind him in a low voice. "Maybe be a little more understanding?" Chan had honestly completely forgotten that she had probably been watching that whole thing, and wasn't exactly sure how much of it would relate to a human scale. Swallowing awkwardly he apologized, and looked to Hyunjin. 

"He's not going to be an easy fix, but... He's still alive. We should get him somewhere safe as soon as possible." 

"Should we take him to heaven?" Minho asked, alerting them to his presence behind them. Changbin joined the two as well, curious as to what was going to happen next. 

"Without his complete soul, I don't know how dangerous that would be." Jisung cut in. And I don't want to try and fix their souls until he's physically more stable. We should just bring him back to Y/N's house." Normally she would be annoyed that they had just decided to use her residence as a temporary base of operations, but for some reason, it didn't matter now that Hyunjin was here. 

"Alright, I'll open the gate. Felix, where-" As Chan turned to address the man in question, his eyes widened slightly. "What the..." When everyone spun to look, they saw the spattered bloodstains riddling the floor from their fight, as well as littered scraps of rope from Felix's tying endeavor. What was missing, though, was Seungmin, Jeongin, and Felix.


	16. Side Topic

Chapter warnings: Mild language 

"Hey... Felix..." Seungmin whispered under his breath. Felix had a firm hold on his wrists as he tied them up, not that they had the strength to fight anymore, even if they wanted to. 

"Shut up." Felix responded, trying to focus both on the task at hand and what they were saying to Jisung and Hyunjin. 

"You know," he continued, ignoring the command given to him, "I was wondering. What are you going to do now that Y/N has her guardian angel back?" He stopped momentarily, but then pulled the ropes even tighter. 

"None of your business." 

"Okay, okay... I mean, you're a warrior, so... I guess you can go back to living in the barracks." He said nothing. "It makes sense. You weren't fit to be her guardian angel anyway." 

"Yes I am." He snarled, moving on to Jeongin's bonds once he was satisfied with Seungmin's. 

"Sure, sure... Which is why she tried to kill herself." Felix moved to raise his hand as if he was going to slap the man, but he scrunched up slightly in defense. "Hold on, I have a proposition for you." Felix's hand dropped. He shouldn't even consider it. He hated both of these, as well as all fallen angels. He had even told Y/N that they were on par with demons when they'd first met. He didn't accept, gave no indication that he wanted to hear the offer. But... he also didn't deny his speech. 

"All I want is to get back into heaven. Like Jeongin said, we're dying down here, and I'm not sure how much longer we can go, especially with you asshats constantly showing up to beat the grace out of us." Felix made a face at this, but stayed quiet, moving from Jeongin's wrists to his ankles. "So... my plan was to use some of Hyunjin's soul to open the gates back home. Easy peasy." 

"Why would I help you do that?" Felix growled. "I don't want your filth in heaven. And I might agree, then you would use me to get in." 

"I have no interest in causing any harm to anyone, we want the least amount of casualties as possible." Seungmin said smoothly. "Hyunjin is already weak. And if we were to use another little piece of his soul, well... he'd live, I promise that much. Still, I don't know if he'd be able to function as a full-fledged guardian angel anymore. It's just too risky, you know?" Felix was getting suspicious about where he was going with this.

"So if by some turn of events, everything works out," He made his big pitch. "Jeongin and I get to heaven, and we stay out of your way. Everyone lives to tell the tale, and you, well... Since heaven is so short on guardian angels, and you just happen to already have experience with this particular human in need... Well, there's an obvious choice for a replacement." 

Felix knew that this was the worst possible idea that he could ever go through with. It was shady, not to mention that there were a million things that could go wrong. He hated fallen angels. He hated them. He... Seungmin saw the conflict dancing in his eyes, trying to find the one thing that would shift his mentality, get him where they needed him to be. 

"Honestly," Seungmin added on, "You'd be doing everyone a favor. That is, if you really think you'd be a better guardian angel for her than Hyunjin." Did he think that? He couldn't. Still, Hyunjin had abandoned her, right? Who had been there for her when she was at her worst? "You owe it to her. To Y/N." That was all it took. 

Within a split second, Felix had removed them from their bindings. Seungmin rubbed his wrist, groaning even at the short time he was in the bonds, but Felix glared to indicate his silence. The angel looked over to the others, making sure that none of them were paying attention. He could vaguely make out their conversation.

"He's not going to be an easy fix, but... He's still alive. We should get him somewhere safe as soon as possible." 

"Should we take him to heaven?"

"Without his complete soul, I don't know how dangerous that would be. And I don't want to try and fix their souls until he's physically more stable." They were still talking, but they wouldn't be for long. Where to go, where to go... He couldn't go back to Y/N's, that was too predictable. Seungmin's base would be on their radar as well. They needed somewhere quick, just so they could plan their next move. Without Hyunjin, they'd have a hard time being tracked, but it was still a risk he didn't want to take. He'd been so busy as a guardian angel, though, he wasn't all that familiar with many places in the human world. Seungmin, noticing his struggle, muttered, 

"I know where to go." In a flash of light, Felix opened a gate, helping the heavily wounded fallen angels through the rift and shutting it abruptly behind them, leaving no trace behind. 

"What the..." Chan said, looking in horror at the empty space behind them. 

"Shit, they must have taken Felix." Jisung said angrily under his breath. 

"This is your fault for taking so fucking long!" Minho glared at him. 

"I'm the one that brought us here, you ass! If this is anyone's fault, it's-" 

"Both of you stop it!" Y/N yelled, surprising everyone. While her hands were shaking, and there were tears staining her skin, she was still able to be fed up. "Felix is strong, and Hyunjin's made it this long, we need to focus on healing him! Fighting isn't going to do shit, so just sit down!" Of course, she meant this figuratively- it was good that this was the case, too, because everyone was too frozen to actually do anything. Swallowing in nervousness, she added, 

"And you need to explain why they were thrown out of heaven. For real."


	17. Double Escape

Chapter warnings: None

"Where are we?" Felix asked, looking around suspiciously. The area they had travelled to was admittedly close to Y/N's home... He didn't see anything immediately that indicated this, but he could sense it. He had a weird feeling about anything to do with her. It had bothered him at first, but he had slowly grown to expect it, and even appreciate it as a calming consistency. 

The area they were standing in now felt dark. It was similar to the feeling he always had around her, but somehow darker. It wasn't inherently a bad place, if anything it was just a little run down. They had appeared on a concrete bridge, stained by years of aging, moss and plants growing up through the cracks. It was fairly secluded, but it looked out over the entire city. Even during the daytime, the flashing lights were blinking all over, causing his attention to flit around, searching for something he knew he'd never find. 

"It's pretty." Was all he managed to say, looking out over the scenery. 

"I know, and out of the way. That's why I picked it." Seungmin said, leaning against the side of the bridge as he tried to recover from their fight. Angels could normally heal themselves fairly well, but Seungmin and Jeongin's powers were evidently depleted. Jeongin quickly struggled off the ground and held his hand up to the bruises on his partner's wrists. 

"Here, let me do it." As he tried to reach, though, his legs gave out from underneath him and he tumbled back into the dirt. 

"Jeongin-" Seungmin said worriedly, moving to help him up, but nearly falling himself. With a sigh, watching them both, Felix knelt down. 

"Neither of you are doing too well. I'll take care of it." Hovering his hand over Jeongin's body first, he healed him to the best of his abilities. The boy breathed out in relief, falling back against the concrete. 

"That's the best I've felt since falling out of the sky." He said with a half-laugh, the most emotion Felix had seen him display since they'd met on Earth. Seungmin groaned as Felix did the same for him, shivering as his wounds healed. His wings involuntarily fluttered out from his shoulderblades, sweeping upwards as he stretched them. Their color had whitened up a little since the last time he'd used them, likely due to Felix's help. 

"I'm surprised you can heal that well, being a soldier and all." Seungmin joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Felix asked accusingly. "If anyone was going to need to know how to heal, it would be someone on the battlefield!" 

"I suppose you're right." He said with another deep breath. "So... now we need a plan." 

"You don't have a plan?" Felix groaned. "Why did I ever trust you to-" 

"Calm down." He rolled his eyes. "I told you the plan, get Hyunjin back so we can use him to get into heaven. Then you're home free." 

"What's to stop you from getting kicked out again?" He posed with annoyance. "Or me for helping you?" This was quickly beginning to seem like a very, very bad idea. He still had the chance to leave, turn them in. 

"Heaven is big. Really big. If I had known I was being targeted, I wouldn't have gotten caught." He explained. He obviously didn't intend to get caught a second time. "As for you, who says they'll even know you were involved?" Raising a hand, he continued, "Actually, that's one of our biggest advantages. If I were your little friends, I'd be assuming right now that Jeongin and Seungmin had escaped, taking Felix with them to keep him quiet and potentially have some bargaining power." 

Listening to that, Felix had to admit he was right. There was no doubt that his mismatched crew was thinking that he'd been kidnapped, already trying to find a way to get him back. While they wouldn't be able to track his soul, like they had with Hyunjin, they were much more aware of his energy, and may just be able to feel his movements. Not only that, but because of the condition of these two, he would likely have to take up most of the angelic duties. 

"Not only that," Jeongin added, "But we may be able to finally make an offensive move with you around." 

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Well, if the others think you've been kidnapped, they won't be suspicious of you." That was fair enough. "We can send you back in to set them up, bring them right to us." That sounded... awful to him, somehow. Was he really just going to turn on his friends, on Y/N like that? He was meant to be her protector...

Wait, that was it, though. He needed to protect her. It wasn't Hyunjin's job anymore, he'd given that up. And now he just wanted to waltz back in, take it back from him? He didn't care what happened to her. He wasn't there for her for all that time. Felix was. It didn't matter what he was feeling in that moment, Felix knew that it was his duty to work it out. He wasn't sure why Seungmin and Jeongin had actually been removed from their home in the first place. Bang Chan knew, and he was pretty sure that a few others did as well, but as far as he could tell, these two weren't trying to hurt anyone, so what did it matter to him? Let them return. He'd never have to see them again. All that mattered was his hold on Y/N, his responsibility. 

"That makes sense." He said. "In that case, we'd want to do this as soon as possible. They think you're weak, even though I've obviously fixed you, so it would be suspicious for me to escape after an extended period of time." 

"I agree." Seungmin said. "But we need to agree on a date and location for a sort of ambush. If you could split them up and just make sure that Hyunjin got to us, that would be optimal, but it will happen fast enough that I think we can handle it." 

"You can't survive another fight, though, unless you run again. Then the plan is completely gone. We can't pull the same trick twice." 

"Well, then we just make sure it works the first time." Seungmin shrugged. 

"We should use this bridge as the meeting spot." Jeongin posed. "It's not the most ideal, but it needs to be a location that we're all familiar with, and going back to our original hideout throws too much suspicious on our connection to Felix." 

"That works for me." Felix said. When?" 

"Let's say... Exactly three days from now." Seungmin suggested. "That gives us enough time to prepare, and you can try and marinate the idea of splitting up in search for us. Maybe even find a way to suggest that you have an idea of where we are." Felix nodded. 

"Alright." 

"Good. Now go and 'escape'." Seungmin shoved him lightly, almost as if they were friends. Felix looked at them for a moment, eyes shifting between each, and then stepped through a gate back to their previous location. At this Seungmin took the opportunity to look to Jeongin, who was clearly burning to ask a question. 

"Why didn't we just use him instead?" Jeongin said with confusion. "He healed us, it would have been 2 to 1." Seungmin couldn't deny that he'd thought about it. Still, it wasn't right. 

"We're not trying to be any more awful than we have to. He did us a favor, and we owe him for that. Plus, Hyunjin is already incapacitated. It's less of a loss to only inflict the damage to him." 

"You told me you'd do anything to get back into heaven." 

"Yes, and I will. If it comes to that. But if we can afford to be decent, I'd like to keep it that way." Jeongin said nothing, simply turning to look out over the city. They had three days to plan their crowning jewel, the plot that would finally bring them home. They could only hope it would work, not wanting to think about what would happen should it fail...


	18. Separation

Chapter warnings: Mild themes

"We don't have time for this right now, Y/N." Bang Chan said quickly, pushing her request to explain aside.

"No! You're hiding something, I can tell!" They may have been angels, but this meant that they weren't used to dealing with humans, as well as their hyper-sensitivity to other people. 

"We need to focus on saving Hyunjin!" He demanded. You can throw your hissy-fit after!" She looked taken aback, even though it had been her suggestion to begin with. He had never spoken to her like that since they'd met, and despite it not having been long ago, she thought she knew his personality fairly well. Then again, watching his fight with the two rogue angels had shaken her opinion. Now he was treating her like a nuisance, and it didn't sit well with her.

"We can bring him back to Y/N's house, like Jisung said. He's probably familiar with it, so it won't be shocking to him." Changbin suggested. It was surprising, coming from him, as up until this point he'd generally kept his opinion out of things, but maybe everyone was just full of surprises today. Plus, he was right, and Minho was the first to back him. 

"That's true, if he was her guardian angel, he'd obviously know the area." He looked over to the man lying on the floor, breath ever weakening. 

"I'll open a gate." Bang Chan said, no room for questioning in his voice. The angels began to follow, Minho swinging his arms under her knees to carry her through. Eyes shut and another turn of her stomach later, she had appeared in her own apartment once again. They laid the injured angel down on her bed, staining the blanket, but she didn't complain. They had more important things to worry about. 

"Alright," Jisung started, towering over his body. "Now we have a choice to make," looking back at Bang Chan. "I can start by trying to heal him, or by disconnecting their souls." 

"Heal him," Bang Chan said quickly, no hesitation in his words. 

"Hold on, I didn't get a chance to explain." Jisung held up a hand, looking back down to his frame. "The longer we go without healing him, the more likely it is that he'll die. He can't heal himself. But... While he's weak, it will be far more difficult for his soul to fight me, meaning that if we want to separate him and Y/N, now is the best time." 

"We should do that, then." Changbin countered the archangel's initial order. 

"But he could die-" 

"He's in danger anyway if his soul is split up." They glared at each other, both waiting for the other to back down. Hyunjin had no way of making the decision for himself. Looking between Bang Chan, Changbin, Jisung, and Hyunjin, they didn't know what to do... She didn't know what to do. She couldn't feel in her heart what he'd want to do, mostly because his soul was bound to protect hers. It was hurting him. That was her deciding factor. 

"Separate our souls." She said curtly, looking at Jisung. He nodded once, gesturing for her to lay down on the bed next to him. There wasn't much room, but she could tell she'd be able to squish in. 

"H-Hold on, am I the only one who heard the part where he could die?" Minho cut in with an objection.

"No, but if this works, he'll be stronger than if we healed him ourselves." Changbin argued. 

"Still, that's a really big if! And Y/N could die as well! Human souls are more fragile than-" 

"He can't keep getting himself hurt because of me!" Y/N snapped. "Jisung can do it. We'll be fine." She looked to the reaper. "Go ahead." They set up similar to last time, although Hyunjin was lying next to her. Jisung settled himself in a sitting position on top of her. 

"Alright. I have to warn you, this is going to feel differently than last time." He said, looking at her, any trace of his usually combative nature lost in the wind. 

"How so?" 

"You'll be able to tell exactly where your soul is. You still may feel it in other parts of your body, but it's going to feel like something is caught in your throat. You need to try and go through the motions of breathing, even if it feels like you shouldn't be able to. I promise you, you're not suffocating, and there's nothing there." The boys in the background made a face at this, but she didn't bother to look over. 

"Okay." 

"And," he continued, "I'm going to take your soul out of your body. It's a little risky, but it's much easier than trying to untangle it while it's still inside you, we've learned that much from our last encounter." He breathed in sharply. "You're going to feel very, very cold, but it should only last a few seconds. Alright?" She nodded again. "Just let me know if you absolutely need me to stop." This was the first thing she didn't agree to. 

"No, don't stop, no matter what." She said to him. 

"But-" 

"No options. Even if I beg you to stop, you have to finish." He said nothing. "Han," she snapped her fingers in front of his face, forcing his attention back to her. "Promise me you won't stop, no matter what." He looked away again. "Han!" 

"Jisung is fine..." 

"Stop avoiding my question," she said, blatantly calling him out. "Come on. You know it's the right thing to do." He sighed. There really wasn't a way around her. 

"Fine. I promise." 

"Thank you." She said, relaxing back into the bed. Leaning towards her face, he pressed his hands to her collarbones, evenly on either side. 

"Are you sure you're ready?" He asked. She nodded, shutting her eyes, before remembering that he needed them open. She looked into his dark, piercing gaze, although she was soon to go blind from the sensation of her soul being ripped from her body. As he'd said, she could feel it moving from her chest, towards his hands. He dragged them up her throat, pulling the soul along with it, almost like a magnet through a wall. She barely remembered to breathe, and if not for his warning she probably wouldn't have. 

When she felt it escape the confines of her mouth, her body began to freeze, within a fraction of a second. Her limbs went numb, not unlike the feeling of falling asleep after having been lain on for hours at a time. Her eyes rolled back into her skull against her own will, completely unable to move. It was sharp, and although not necessarily painful, it was extremely uncomfortable, defying her nature. 

The other boys watched as Jisung held what appeared to be nothing in his hands, shaking as if it was too heavy to hold. His wings shot out from his shoulder blades, similarly as to when Hyunjin's soul had fought him the first time, although in this case it seemed as if it were his own will. His fingers clawed at the air, trying to pull apart the two souls, creating a considerable amount of energy in the room that they could all feel. It was as if he were untangling a pair of headphones, except for her couldn't afford the same flippant violence with a soul as one would have with such a cheap investment. Finally, he drew his hands to his mouth, biting into it and yanking back with the force of his whole upper body, straining, and then suddenly jerking backward, as if he'd broken free. 

Leaning back forward, and breathing considerably heavily, he gently pressed his lips to hers, breathing a long sigh into her mouth as her chest expanded, the warmth reentering her frame. Her skin returned to its vibrant color, eyes settling back to normal, limbs twitching with newly invigorated life. Then, taking what he still held in his hands, he lifted his fingertips to Hyunjin's mouth, pouring the soul back in. 

Both of the bodies on the bed were still passed out, but clearly unharmed. It would only take a few moments for Y/N to wake up, maybe a few more for Hyunjin. They were still unsure on the state of his health, but he was now safe to heal, and Bang Chan wasted no time moving to do so, holding his hands over the man's head and chest, eyes shut in concentration. 

"Why did you have to put your mouth all over hers?" Minho asked suspiciously, jabbing at Jisung as usual. 

"I had Hyunjin's soul in my hands, hers in my mouth." He said defensively. "I didn't want to risk getting them tangled up again, and the soul goes in and out through the throat the easiest. Excuse me for not considering your feelings before doing so- I didn't realize you had a crush on me." He continued, joking back with a wink. Minho looked utterly annoyed and confused by this, breathing out in exasperation and turning on his heel. Not even a few seconds later, Y/N coughed, rubbing her throat in pain and trying to sit up. 

"I-is it done?" She asked. Jisung lightly put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down as he removed himself from sitting atop her body. 

"It's over, it worked. You're alright." She smiled weakly. 

"G-good." She said, trying to sit up again. 

"You're probably still tired. You should get some rest." He said. "We'll fill you in later." She tried to protest, but the weight on her eyelids was heavier than she'd ever felt before. Against her own wishes, she found herself sinking into sleep once again.


	19. Past to Present

Chapter warnings: None

"What happened to Y/N?!" A voice said in panic from behind them as she began to drift off into sleep. Turning quickly, they all faced the door, where Felix was standing. Bang Chan quickly rushed over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him from side to side as he frantically asked, 

"Felix! Are you okay? Are you hurt? What did they do to you?" He grabbed his jaw, turning his head to the side, examining for cuts, when Felix pushed him off, rubbing his arms as if he'd been contaminated or something. 

"I-I'm fine." He said. "It's fine." Chan still looked concerned, raising an eyebrow. 

"What happened? Did they take you? Did you run?" 

"They, uh," he swallowed nervously. "They got me while I was trying to bind them up and dragged me through a gate. I managed to escape, though, and I came back here, because I figured it was safest." He shrugged. 

"How did you beat them? It was two to one?" Changbin asked. 

"And how did they open a gate themselves? They should have been weak from the fight." Minho added on. 

"Maybe he was able to beat them both because they were weak from opening the gate too." Bang Chan supplied, looking to him. "Not to mention he's a warrior angel." 

"Y-yeah, that's it." Felix said with a nod. That was a close call... Good thing Chan was too adept at solving problems for his own good. "But I'm a guardian angel now." 

"Actually, we have good news!" Chan continued, gesturing to Hyunjin and Y/N's bodies on the bed. "We separated their souls, and healed them, although Hyunjin was a little bit harder. With any luck they'll both be good as new after a peaceful night! We can get back to normal!" Felix's nose scrunched up against his own will, but thankfully nobody saw it. 

"Well, not quite." He cut in. He had to upkeep his end of the deal with Seungmin and Jeongin, not to mention get his place back as Y/N's guardian angel. "We still have to find the fallen angels." 

"Do we, though?" Changbin asked thoughtfully. "As long as we keep them from getting a hold on another angel, they're none of our business. They'll die off on their own down here." Shit... he had to find a way to convince them that they needed to find the men, and in three days exactly, no less. 

"If they were able to nab an angel once, they'll be able to do it again." He pointed out. "And now that they have more experience and intelligence, it'll take them less time to do what they're planning. As long as they leave us alone, we may not realize anything's happened until it's too late." 

"He has a point." Minho agreed, relieving him slightly. "We need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"First Y/N needs to rest, though." Felix said adamantly. 

"And Hyunjin." Bang Chan added on. 

"Yeah, right..." He said coughing. "Anyway, I'll work on trying to find them, since I was with them last. We'll get ready to go in a few days." He said. Chan looked over at him again in surprise. He wasn't generally one to make the plans, he was more of a follower. Still, there was nothing inherently wrong with it. If Felix wanted to go out of his comfort zone a little bit, who were they to stop him? 

Y/N was obviously the first to wake up the next morning, surrounded by muttering angels. Surprisingly, Jisung hadn't left, although his work was technically done. She just barely recalled the whole process, as well as him confirming that the process of splitting their should had worked. Looking to her side, she also saw Hyunjin, her real guardian angel. She had never really talked to him. What was he like? Was he okay? Had they managed to heal him?

"Oh, Y/N, you're up." Chan said, walking over to the bed, sitting on the very edge as he tried not to disturb her position. She sat fully up to make sure he had enough room, causing him to give her a quick glance of gratitude. "How are you?" 

"I'm fine." She said. "You still have some explaining to do." His gaze fell. He knew that he couldn't expect her to forget forever, but he'd at least wondered if the injuries wouldn't stall her. It wasn't something he liked to remember. In fact, it would take all of his effort to even both recounting it. A light touch on his shoulder snapped him out of his quickly whirlpooling thoughts. 

"Are you... alright?" She asked, eyebrows furrowing as she watched him panic. Looking at the warmth of her gaze, she slight shaking of her body occasionally as she shifted in bed- he sighed in defeat. He wouldn't be able to writhe his way out of this. 

"Hyunjin. You weren't his first project as a guardian angel." He laughed a little. "I mean, I'm sure that's obvious, you've seen how a first-time guardian angel acts sometimes." 

"Okay... what does that have to do with Seungmin and Jeongin?" 

"Well, some angels watch more than one person, although it's difficult. Regardless, the only time when an angel gets a replacement human counterpart is when their previous one, well..." 

"Dies?" 

"Yes." He nodded. "Before he was assigned to you, Hyunjin's counterpart died." 

"I'm... sorry to hear that." She said, wanting to be respectful, but also not exactly sure where he was going with this little tangent. 

"No one knows exactly how they died, but it was clear that it was a... supernatural event." 

"They were murdered by an angel." Minho said from behind them, clearly listening in. Changbin put a hand on his shoulder, as if to warn him to keep quiet and stay out of the conversation. Bang Chan winced at the comment. 

"I'm not familiar with the actual case, but Seungmin was convicted of the act. Jeongin was friends with him at the time, and insisted that he was innocent. He demanded to be thrown out of heaven as well, as was Seungmin's punishment. Still, to this day, he stays by his side religiously." 

"So... did he do it?" She asked. Bang Chan looked up. 

"Huh?" 

"Did Seungmin kill that person? And if he did, why?" Chan looked to the side, stuttering. 

"I- well, I- um-" 

"It's unknown." Changbin answered for him. "We're sorry." 

"Oh..." She said, a bit disappointed. It was always a struggle for her to figure out who to trust. Even now, she felt as if they were hiding something from her. "Um, where's Felix?" she asked, just noticing that he wasn't in the room with the rest of the angels. 

"He's handling the tracking of Seungmin and Jeongin." Bang Chan said. "They're dangerous." 

"I thought you just said you didn't know if they were dangerous?" 

"They kidnapped Hyunjin, you saw what they did to him." Minho argued. "That's dangerous enough." 

"We move out as soon as we find them." Bang Chan said with an air of finality. "Then this nonsense will finally be done."


End file.
